There has been an uptick in Republican registrations since 2008, Toulouse Oliver said, but Democrats still out number the GOP in the county.

We’ve got nifty interactive graphs and charts after the jump!

Yesterday the Farmington Daily Times reported that voter registration is up in San Juan County, a traditionally conservative part of the state. According to the county clerk, 728 people have recently registered as Republicans and 111 as Democrats, while 423 declined to state a party and 59 registered with a third party.

Here’s how the Bernalillo County numbers compare from 2006, 2008 and this year:

This pie chart show’s this year’s registration activity:

And here’s 2006:

The lawsuit alleges that Foley was “physically assaulted” without cause or provocation and that the three police officers who arrested him violated his civil rights “intentionally, maliciously, willfully and/or with reckless or deliberate indifference.”

Foley is seeking compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages, attorney fees and costs and other relief, saying he “has suffered and is continuing to suffer damages, including but not limited to distress, anguish, suffering, humiliation, deprivation of constitutional rights.”

The lawsuit was filed March 5 in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces by attorneys Raul Carrillo and Steven Jones. The named defendants are the City of Roswell, the Roswell Police Department and the three officers involved in Foley’s arrest.

Foley was one of the most influential lawmakers in Santa Fe when he was arrested in June 2007. He was charged with disorderly conduct, interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest, all misdemeanors, after he rushed the court during his son’s basketball game.

Foley ran onto the court after his son was knocked over by the opposing coach. Police said Foley pushed his way past one officer and spit tobacco on him before having to be forcibly taken to the ground by two other officers. Foley, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, said he remained calm throughout the event and does not chew tobacco.

The case was initially dismissed by the charging officer in municipal court after one judge recused himself but another refused to do so even though he had given a campaign contribution to Foley several years before and his son was a close friend and backer of Foley.

The officer wrote on the dismissal that the case would be refilled in magistrate court. Instead, the case was given to the district attorney’s office, which handed the case over to a special prosecutor to decide whether to charge Foley.

In January 2008, that special prosecutor, former District Judge Ralph W. Gallini, announced that charges would not be re-filed, telling the Roswell Daily Record that he had “basically found that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute on those charges and that case law, in other words appellate decisions, are totally against us here in New Mexico.”

The damage to Foley’s political career was done. His booking mug was used by his opponent in the 2008 Republican primary, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars from one Roswell oilman, and Foley lost to Dennis Kintigh by 8 percentage points.

Foley, an insurance salesman, has since moved with his family to Rio Rancho.

Neri Holguin

A political battle over control of New Mexico’s dominant party played out on the Senate floor Tuesday over an unexpected issue: an Albuquerque woman’s nomination to a state board. Confirmations in the Senate are usually uneventful and state lawmakers usually speak glowingly of the nominee. But that wasn’t the case Tuesday, when the state Senate rejected the nomination of Neri Holguin to the state Environmental Improvement Board by a vote of 17 to 25.

“I don’t think a person who works on political campaigns should be confirmed. It’s a conflict of interest,” said Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque.

Holguin managed the 2008 political campaigns of senators Tim Keller and Eric Griego. The duo knocked off then-Democratic senators Shannon Robinson and James Taylor in the June primary in what was considered a victory for progressive voters. In November of that year Tim Eichenberg defeated Republican Diane H. Snyder

The political upheaval split Democratic lawmakers into rival fractions. And it led incumbent lawmakers from both political parties to charge that several nonprofits had improperly influenced the legislative elections.

The losing lawmakers sued the nonprofits, a complaint later dismissed by state courts. Meanwhile, the state filed a lawsuit to force the nonprofits to disclose the origin of the money that had paid for what they said were educational mailers critical of the state lawmakers who later lost. A federal judge shot down the state’s lawsuit last year, and the state has appealed.

Holguin couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

The strained feelings bubbled up on the Senate floor following Tuesday’s vote in which several Democrats joined most Republicans to reject Holguin’s nomination.

“Suddenly to develop scruples is disingenuous and incredibly hypocritical,” Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said, chastising his colleagues for questioning possible conflicts of interest.

Added Sen. Eric Griego “We have lobbyists who represent corporations on these boards. We have industry folks on boards. I think this is a reason why we need webcasting and why people need to know what happens up here. I’m learning a lot more about this body the more time I spend here.”

Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, also chimed in.

“To see this done just because she has done campaign work that was above board–we took it out on [this] woman,” Keller said.

Those comments drew a response from lawmakers in the rival faction.

“We are being questioned as far as this vote,” replied Bernadette Sanchez. “I knew what I was doing when I voted against this person on this board. We have a right to vote no on this.”

Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said he voted for Holguin but was troubled by what he called nonprofits interfering in political campaigns.

“It’s about the spirit of fair play,” Jennings said. “Corporations and businesses, if they make donations, they have to report contributions. But then they don’t apply to nonprofits. Some of the things that have happened is that nonprofits have used government money to influence elections.”

The nonprofits have repeatedly denied contributing money to political campaigns.

Also in play in Holguin’s nomination is an ongoing battle over state environmental regulations.

An organization has requested that the Environmental Improvement Board roll back New Mexico’s emissions to 25 percent below their 1990 levels by 2020 — far below anything being considered at the federal level and something critics say would devastate the state’s economy.

Holguin has sat on the environmental board for months. But at least some senators didn’t think that was a good thing.

“I was little afraid of politicizing this extremely important board,” said Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque. “I don’t think having another person with an agenda would improve that board.”

In a letter sent to legislators Herrera says as of now the state is $467,800 short for the primary and $784,450 short for the general election.

“I’m screaming,” said Herrera, “because they need to know to fund New Mexico elections.”

The Secretary of State’s office faced similar situation in 2008, so they went to the state board of finance for a loan. That loan is still outstanding at the board. The outstanding balance isn’t an obstacle when approaching the finance board again, Herrera told state lawmakers. But it’s that the board has only $1.5 million to cover disasters around the state and Herrera’s office would need the $1.2 million of that to put on the elections.

“We’ve made cuts where we can,” said Herrera, pointing out the dollars she is asking for are just enough to cover the elections after her office has already made cuts.

Herrera says the board of Finance has asked her office to go to the legislature before returning to them for a 2010 loan. So far, lawmakers have yet to respond. When asked what would happen if the state doesn’t come through with the needed money, Herrera says simply “I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

The poll also found that 71 percent of New Mexicans are “absolutely certain” that God exists, equal to the national average.

The poll, however, has a very small sample size in New Mexico (just 228 residents) and a high margin of error, at plus or minus 7.8 percent.

New Mexico ranks lower, 32nd, in the amount of residents who attend church services at least once a week. Just 32 percent of New Mexicans say that they attend church at least once a week.

Tom Jensen, the director of another firm, Public Policy Polling, wrote “the relationship between religiosity and Republicanism in Pew’s newest rankings of the most religious states is pretty remarkable.”

14 of the 15 most religious states voted for John McCain, the only exception being North Carolina where Barack Obama just barely squeaked through.

At the same time Obama won 23 of the 27 least religious states, with the most notable exception being Alaska which is near the bottom of the list but still voted for McCain.

The Pew Forum combined states with sample sizes that are too small to analyze (for example the sparsely populated Montana and Wyoming are combined), making the lowest ranking is 46 rather than 50.

The poll data came from the Pew Forum’s 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.

A mailer sent to District 5 voters this week criticizes City Councilor Michael Cadigan, who is seeking re-election.

Cadigan is a longtime vocal opponent of the tax-proceeds scheme — called TIDDs for short — by which SunCal, the developer, hopes to pay for roads, water lines and other infrastructure for the massive development.

The Cadigan mailer is a reminder that Albuquerque’s future growth, and how to manage it, remains a hotly debated, unsettled political issue as city voters go to the polls next week to elect a mayor and city councilors.

The mailer

A group named Moving Albuquerque Forward sent out the Cadigan mailer. The single largest contributor to Moving Albuquerque Forward was Westland Development Co. LP, a subsidiary of SunCal, city campaign finance records show. Westland gave $10,000 through Sept. 25, 2009.

The organization had raised $26,000 and spent $1,160, through Sept. 25 city records show. The Westland contribution is twice as large as the next biggest contribution—$5,000 from Caballero Farms.

A call to the committee was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The two-page mailer goes after Cadigan for what the group says is the councilor’s inaction on fighting traffic congestion after the opening of three new schools on the West Side.

“Michael Cadigan has been our Councilor for eight years. Eight is enough. It’s time for Cadigan to go,” the mailer reads.

Cadigan disputes the mailer’s accusations, saying in a press release issued Monday that he had “spearheaded a successful effort by the City and APS to provide a new and better access” to Volcano Vista High School, one of the three new schools.

The fight over SunCal

Cadigan is open about his opposition to SunCal, which has won high-profile endorsements from Gov. Bill Richardson and Mayor Martin Chavez.

SunCal’s proposed development has stoked a fiery debate in the city and in Bernalillo County.

Opponents have argued that the state would be gambling hundreds of millions of dollars in future tax proceeds on a proposal that might not live up to its billing. Opponents also say that SunCal’s development would increase sprawl at a time when New Mexico has to think carefully how to manage growth. A large, mixed-use development so far from Albuquerque’s core would also increase traffic and create more demand for water, they say.

Supporters of the legislation have countered that the SunCal proposal could mean thousands of jobs created by industrial and commercial employers.

In addition to his past opposition to Sun Cal, Cadigan said Tuesday he traveled to Santa Fe this past legislative session to lobby state lawmakers against legislation that would have helped SunCal.

The SunCal legislation called for giving bonding authority to several Tax Increment Development Districts — TIDDs — that would have then issued $400 million in bonds based on future tax proceeds. The cash would help SunCal pay for roads, water lines and other infrastructure for the planned mixed-use development the company has in mind.

SunCal wasn’t shy about lobbying state lawmakers, or the public, leading up to and during this year’s legislative session. SunCal spent at least $232,000 in a marketing campaign that included billboards, radio and television ads, and direct mail that encouraged people to go to the company’s Web site about TIDDs. That Web site then encouraged its readers to call, write or e-mail their legislators in support of the TIDD legislation.

The SunCal legislation failed on the floor of the state House on the final night of the session, shocking the political class as well as the media.

The company, through Westland Development Co. had eight professional lobbyists working on its behalf during the session, including Mark Fleischer, Chavez’s campaign manager.

Martinez, shown here announcing her candidacy in July. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez has secured a high-profile endorsement from University of New Mexico Regent Jack Fortner, a sign that not all Republicans are waiting for former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson to decide whether she’s running before they pledge support to other candidates.

Fortner is a Farmington attorney and former San Juan County commissioner whose opinion carries a lot of weight among Republicans in the Four Corners region of the state.

“She seems like the obvious choice for a candidate who can not only fight for New Mexicans but who can also win the general (election),” Fortner said about Martinez in an interview conducted on Tuesday.

Fortner was considering running for governor himself but said he decided about 10 days ago that, with a daughter in ninth grade, now isn’t the right time. Wilson also has children in grade school, and Fortner said he thinks she’ll make the same decision he did.

“I don’t see Heather getting into the race,” he said. “… Heather is bright and she’s a planner. If Heather was going to get in the governor’s race, she would be in.”

Many Republicans aren’t so certain about that and have resisted backing any of the four declared and likely Republican candidates for governor, at least in part because they’re waiting for a decision from Wilson. The former congresswoman ensured the continuation of that limbo when she said last week that she remains undecided and has no timetable for making a decision.

Martinez isn’t the only candidate to secure an early endorsement despite Wilson’s indecisiveness. Last month, Nathan Krekula, a professor at a Christian university in Hobbs, endorsed former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh in the race. Krekula, a political newcomer, had briefly entered the governor’s race but dropped out shortly before endorsing Weh.

Many still waiting on Wilson

State Sen. Steven Neville, R-Farmington, is among those who are waiting to pledge support for any of the candidates, and he said Wilson is one of the primary reasons.

“If Heather’s not a candidate, then I would probably lean toward Martinez, but I want to see what the field is. There could be another candidate or two,” he said in an interview. “I’m not quite to the point that I’m making an absolute commitment, but I’m quite impressed with (Martinez’s) candidacy.”

Likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner said he has talked with many who are withholding support of him or anyone else until they know what Wilson plans to do.

“I’ve already called some of these people—who I’ve known for years and I’m friendly with—and I totally respect their position,” he said. “… It would be a stumbling block if you were relying on these folks to fund your race. While I would love for them to fund my race, I don’t have an expectation that they will.”

Martinez said the conversations she’s having with Republicans around the state “include whether or not Heather is going to run,” but noted the Fortner endorsement in saying she is winning support regardless.

“I’m in the race whether Heather decides to enter the race or not, and I’ve had that conversation with her,” Martinez said.

Weh declined to talk specifically about Wilson but said in a prepared statement that he’s confident in his campaign’s ability to raise enough money to “succeed in a very tough environment” against likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Diane Denish. The other Republican gubernatorial candidate, state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones of Albuquerque, could not be reached for comment.

Moving beyond being a regional candidate?

Securing Fortner’s support could be significant for Martinez. She is a powerhouse in Doña Ana County but largely unknown in the rest of the state. Some have referred to her as a regional candidate.

But you can’t get much further from Las Cruces in New Mexico than San Juan County, and Fortner said Martinez will “fit right in” there. He added that other prominent Republicans in San Juan County are set to join him in supporting Martinez.

“I know she understands oil and gas issues, which will be big up here. But she also understands a problem that’s statewide, and that’s the DWI issue and the crime and corruption issue,” he said. “She’s got a tough but fair reputation, and she is the only one who has firsthand experience fighting crime.”

Martinez said she’s pleased with the support she’s received from Fortner and others.

“It moves me from being a regional candidate, with the support in Farmington and the support we’re getting form the southeast part of the state,” Martinez said. “I think people are really seeing how important this race is and how important it is that we come together to win.”

TPM pointed to the recently released transcripts of Senate Judiciary Committee interviews with Rove, as well as e-mails on the subject.

“Rogers would be the dream” candidate to replace Iglesias, Jennings wrote to his boss in a January 6, 2007 e-mail, a month after Iglesias was fired.

Jennings was an ambitious operative intimately familiar with the political landscape in New Mexico.  As his bio states:

Before he joined the White House staff, President Bush’s re-election campaign asked Scott to move to New Mexico to manage its efforts there in 2004. Scott and his team flipped New Mexico from blue-to-red, one of only two states to go that way between 2000 and 2004. Scott’s efforts caught the attention of the White House, landing him in Washington.

Although Jennings had never met Iglesias, he did know Rogers and other state GOP figures. Once he moved Washington to work for Rove and Bush, Jennings invited Rogers and another state GOP lawyer, Mickey Barnett, to the White House for a breakfast. During testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked Jennings why, after the breakfast, Jennings asked the White House liaison to the Justice Department, Monica Goodling, to meet with the two New Mexicans “on a sensitive issue.”

Rogers had been a vocal critic of Iglesias, who he said had not been aggressive enough in pursuing charges of voter fraud. In 2004, Rogers pushed Iglesias repeatedly to pursue voter registration fraud cases, specifically against ACORN. Voter fraud was an issue he believed, if pushed properly, could help Republicans win.

In the transcripts released yesterday, House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., pursues, a long line of questions about voter fraud, specifically about what the investigators see as the attempt by Rove to use allegations of voter fraud to their political advantage. The questions suggest that Rove wanted Iglesias to make voter fraud an issue in New Mexico because he would be seen as impartial.

From page 37 of the transcript:

Schiff: Suggesting that one party was engaged in voter fraud, whether it was true or not, could have a political impact on an election, couldn’t it?

Rove: As I have said twice before, a de minimis impact. And it also you are — implicit in your question is that only one party is engaged in voter fraud. That has not been my experience.

Schiff: Now, if you went to New Mexico, for example, and made an allegation of voter fraud, by virtue of your position as a political adviser to the President, that would tend to be discredited by some voters. Am I right?

Rove: Every argument in politics generates a counter argument, yes.

Schiff: And the fact of your position, though, would have an effect on how voters would perceive your raising the issue.

Rove: Yes.

Schiff: That issue would have more impact if the accusation came from a neutral party. Am I right?

Rove: Like the Albuquerque Tribune, yes.

Schiff: Or like a U.S. Attorney. Am I right?

Rove: I am not certain that — you may have the view that U.S. Attorneys ought to be used as people making political accusations in political campaigns. That is not my view.

Schiff: But a U.S. Attorney making an allegation of voter fraud would carry much more weight than if Karl Rove, political adviser to the President, made that allegation. Am I right?

And it continues with this exchange on page 41, where Rogers’ name comes up in a discussion of voter fraud:

Schiff: Take a look at page 161 and 162 of the OIG report. That is the other binder in front of you. Do you know a Republican from New Mexico named Pat Rogers, who is now a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee?

Rove: Yeah, I know of him, yes.

Schiff: And how do you know of him?

Rove: He is a long-time Republican activist in the State.

Schiff: The OIG report quotes an e-mail Mr. Rogers sent to a number of people associated with the New Mexico Republican Party as follows: “I believe the voter ID issue should be used now at all levels, Federal, State, legislative races, and Heather Wilson’s race. You are not going to find a better wedge issue. I have got to believe the voter ID issue would do Heather more good than another ad talking about how much Federal taxpayer money she has put into the State education system and Social Security. This is the single best wedge issue ever in new New Mexico.” He then goes on to talk about a lawsuit they plan to file concerning voter registrations by ACORN. Isn’t it correct, Mr. Rove, that some Republicans active in the Republican National Committee believed that this was a great wedge issue?

Rove: Mr. Rogers obviously did. I don’t.

Schiff: Did you ever pass on complaints about voter fraud by groups affiliated or leaning towards Republicans?

Rove: I don’t recall.

Also released were zillions of e-mails pertaining to the fired U.S. attorneys, including this gem from state Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who had e-mailed Rove to weigh in on the discussion of a replacement for Iglesias. Adair wrote that although Rogers would be “a fantastic choice,” he didn’t want him to be nominated because, “he is simply too valuable an asset elsewhere.”

Here’s the whole thing:

—— Forwarded Message

From: Rod Adair

,Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 11:56:05 -0500

To: Karl Rove <kr@georgewbush.com>

Conversation: US Attorney .

Subject: US Attorney

This Is a rare moment’when a matter is of such importance

that I must contact you.

The Albuquerque Journal this morning reported four names .

in consideration.for US· Attcirney for New Mexico. Three

are quite acceptable, the fourth would be a disaster. (Actually

Rogers would be a fantastic ·cholce, but it would be my hope

that he would never accept it – which I. am also certain Is

the case – ·in that he is simply too valuable an asset elsewhere.)

The singular wrong pick In this group would be Chuck Peifer.

He is, in shorthand, a wuss.

…If you are looking for someone who will follow the law scrupulously,

‘be fair, be honest, and be of service to the nation, all four~ even

Peifer, would be qualified (none more than’ Rogers, who,better not

get it). But if you are looking forsomeone who will do all the above

AND withstand any criticism, stand up to theWard ChurcbillLMkhaeL

Moore-bulliel;-Qf-the-world-and:norwony about critiCism ‘for doing

his job” the PEIFER IS DEFINITELY NOT THE CHOICE.

After receiving this message from Adair, Rove forwarded it to Jennings, asking “What is the situation here?” To which Jennings responded:

—— Forwarded Message

—-From:-SJennings@gwb43.com

Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2007 12:42:27 -0500

To: Karl Rove <KR@georgewbush.com>

Conversation: US Attorney

Subject: Re: US Attorney

Domenici wants Peifer.

Our political team wants Bibb, but Dornenici doesn’t like him for some reason•

..Rogers would be the dream, but won’t do it.

The other is .a throw-away name.

After Iglesias was fired, Rogers continued to pursue voter fraud allegations. In October 2008, just before the presidential election, he and other state GOP members (including former state Rep. Justine Fox Young, an associate of Barnett’s) claimed they had “bombshell” evidence of voter fraud at a press conference, handing out copies of voter registration cards and documentation suggesting that the registrations were fraudulent.

Days later, the claims fell apart as the allegedly fraudulent voters began appearing at press conferences to demonstrate that they were, in fact, real people and legally registered.

Also in 2008, in his capacity as attorney for the Republican Party of New Mexico, Rogers hired a private investigator to investigate possible voter fraud.

The private investigator’s visits to the homes of several voters resulted in two voter intimidation lawsuits, one filed by the ACLU and the other by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, and the cases also attracted the attention of investigators from the Department of Justice.

Ray Rivera, right, with then-U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, during a campaign swing through rural Colorado last year.

Ray Rivera is an Albuquerque native who recently turned 30.

Following two years on Barack Obama’s grueling but ultimately triumphant presidential campaign, Rivera promptly moved to Washington, D.C., and is now arguably New Mexico’s highest ranking presidential appointee.

Rivera is the Interior Department’s new director of external and intra-governmental affairs — admittedly, not the sexiest of titles — but as such he’s a member of senior staff to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and reports directly to the ex-Colorado senator.

“I’m the liaison between a lot of organizations and the secretary,” Rivera explains in a recent phone interview. He ticks off external organizations he works with, like the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Alliance, Exxon, Chevron and American Petroleum. He says he also coordinates with governors and mayors all across the country.

“So basically, I try to leverage partnerships or build relationships with external organizations and electeds to help further the secretary’s priorities and the Interior’s priorities.” Rivera says. “And right now the secretary is focused heavily on how the Interior and its lands fit into mitigating climate change and how we develop more renewable energy.”

Besides leveraging for a member of the president’s cabinet, Rivera is the epitome of the dyed-in-the-wool Obama man. He says he’s still every bit determined to help “change the country and change the world,” summoning the then-candidate’s inspirational vow.

But like all good stories, Rivera’s journey to the nation’s capital began years earlier. Specifically, 13 years earlier.

How do I know? Because I was there.

A noisy, 11^th floor copy room

In the summer of 1996, Rivera, then a student at Manzano High School, began an internship with Mayor Martin Chavez the day after I started as an intern. At the time, I was an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico.

Rivera was a student government activist agitating against “closed” high school campuses (the indignity of not being able to leave school grounds for lunch) when he caught the eye of Mayor Chavez at a public meeting. Impressed, the then-first-term mayor offered Rivera an 11^th floor City Hall summer job.

That’s when Rivera says he caught the politics bug and singled me out as an influence.

“I ran into you in the mayor’s office,” he says with a laugh, “and I’d ask, ‘What makes Mayor Chavez go this way or that way?’ and ‘What’s the difference between a Democrat versus a Republican?’ I remember talking with you a lot. And I’m not just saying this because I’m doing an interview with you,” Rivera recalls.

A summer and then the following year found the two of us cramped in noisy copy room just off the mayor’s office reception area, consumed mostly by researching constituent questions and complaints.

The best parts of the job were the frequent outings with a mayor who clearly cared about involving his two youngest staffers in a wide range of city business and meetings, both formal and informal.

Rivera would go on to UNM where he ran for student body president, falling just short of winning. As a student, he continued to work for Mayor Chavez and later Mayor Jim Baca.

Also as an undergrad, he got a taste of campaign organizing and field work on Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign in New Mexico. Following that extended campaign came the bitter taste of another loss.

But the eager, personable Rivera was undaunted.

Colorado bound

Pivoting off of relationships built during that 2000 campaign, Rivera went to work for the state’s biggest, most influential public employees union – the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  He worked out of AFSCME Council 18’s political office in Albuquerque and later moved to AFSCME’s Colorado local in Denver.

“Union political experience really solidified my love for the progressive movement,” Rivera says.

In early 2007, Rivera had worked for AFSCME in Denver for nearly four years when the looming presidential campaign beckoned. Torn between an opportunity to work on Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign and Obama’s, Rivera picked the latter.

By this time, Rivera was a veteran field and data campaign specialist, and he worked stints in the campaign as a traveling national field coordinator and later was tapped to be Obama’s Colorado state director.

The Colorado Independent’s Wendy Norris interviewed Rivera then about how he was working to turn a previously deep red Colorado blue for Obama.

This was when Rivera first got to know then-U.S. Sen. Salazar.

“I didn’t really know him personally until the campaign,” he says. “Once we were in the general (election) and he was on board and from day one he called me in the office, I sat with him and his senior staff and he said, ‘How can I help make this happen?’ And from that day on” — in June of 2008 — “we talked every single day.”

Rivera adds that his bond with Salazar was solidified during a subsequent campaign road trip through rural Colorado —“literally, driving an RV over the Rocky Mountains.”

Washington, D.C., bound

It would appear that Rivera hasn’t slowed down since. The election triumph was immediately followed by a busy transition period and the work of organizing a new federal government. Rivera quickly settled in with Salazar at Interior, home to numerous agencies with significant impact on New Mexico.

And Rivera was far from the only New Mexican to join the new crew at the department that oversees national parks and monuments, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, as well as water and science policy, among many others.

The new Democratic crew, Rivera points out, is dramatically different from the previous Republican one.

“There was no doubt more interaction between the previous crew and the oil and gas industry, and there wasn’t a focus on developing the renewable side. It was conventional fuels and conventional resource development,” he explains. “So we kind of dusted off a lot the renewable energy plans when we walked in the door and said, ‘Now, OK, let’s get this rolling.”

Rivera notes that Interior manages a third of the lands in the country – and a much larger percentage in New Mexico – as well as billions of acres off shore, all of which, he says, will figure prominently in the development and transmission of renewable energy going forward.

If Rivera has a pet project on his new job, it’s youth outreach. That was clearly part of his portfolio during the campaign, especially on the night Obama formally accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, as Rivera exhorted a packed Invesco Field in Denver – and millions watching on television — to get involved in the campaign’s home stretch – via text messaging.

Nowadays, he and his boss want young people to get outdoors.

“Young people aren’t doing anything outdoors anymore. They just play video games on their computers,” he says with another laugh. Turning more serious, he adds, “We’re not developing future land stewards, geological surveyors, water scientists or refuge managers.”

‘Not looking for rest’

Rivera emphasizes that land use issues play a special role in his home state.

“I think the unique connection New Mexico always has to the Interior is that because of all the public lands there, and the fact that land is such part of who the people are in New Mexico — the land grants, the ranchers, the connection to how valuable water is,” he says. “This is the West. People live off the land. So there’s a respect and a deep understanding of natural resources in states like New Mexico and also Colorado.”

Although Rivera got his start in politics in New Mexico, it was that lopsided victory in the contest for Colorado’s electoral college votes last year that seems to have made a lasting impression.

“I got to grow up in politics as the West became the political epicenter, as these Western swing states came into focus for the presidential election and the emerging Hispanic vote,” he says, adding that Obama won Colorado by a 10.5 percent margin over Republican John McCain.

“I mean, that was unheard of,” he says, his voice rising with excitement. “You’re talking about a pretty solidly red presidential state that Obama won by double digits!”

With that double-digit win in the rear view mirror, Rivera is determined to make the most of the opportunity it helped create.

Looking down the road, it seems he’s ignoring the brakes in favor of the (renewable energy) gas pedal instead.

“I’m not burnt out. I’m not looking for rest,” he adds. “And I can’t come home anytime soon because we have a responsibility here to get the work done.”

Jim Spiri, shown here with John McCain last year. (Courtesy photo)

Jim Spiri is a conservative who volunteered extensively last year for John McCain, traveling the country to try to help the GOP nominee win the presidency.

Now, he’s openly supporting President Barack Obama’s attempt to reform the nation’s health care system.

The Albuquerque resident, who has a long history of activism that includes successfully lobbying Congress to change a military health care rule following his son’s death in 2001, says it’s time for Republicans to come to the table and work with Obama on reform.

Spiri said in a recent interview that he favors a government-run insurance system to compete with private insurance companies, even if he has to help pay for it.

“I’m not saying it would make me vote for Obama in the future, because I did not vote for him this time, but I do give him high marks for taking the bull by the horns,” Spiri said.

“I disagree with the Republicans not getting behind Obama and trying to fix this, because that one issue would strengthen the entire country.”

Obama is currently making a strong push for health-care reform. In addition to lobbying Congress, he’s holding an online town-hall meeting on the subject Wednesday. Last week, his administration released statistics for New Mexico and other states that a news release said highlight the “urgent need” for reform.

The president isn’t pushing a specific proposal and is taking some criticism from the left as he agrees to compromises in an attempt to win support. But while Obama is seeking cooperation with Republicans, Democrats close to him are warning that they’ll move ahead without the GOP if it insists on too many concessions.

Private insurance system is a ‘disaster’

Spiri, a combat photographer and an occasional blogger for the Philadelphia news Web site philly.com and other sites, identifies himself as a conservative but not a Republican. He leans to the right on most issues, he said, but because so many millions of people are uninsured, he believes strongly in the need for a government option to compete with a private insurance system that he called a “disaster.”

Spiri said his support for such reform is “directly related to the situation I encountered when my son was ill. Even as a Marine, the insurance was a disaster.”

Spiri’s son Jesse had just been commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Marines in May 2001 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The company providing health insurance for the military refused to pay for his care. At the time, the company wasn’t required to cover treatment because Jesse Spiri hadn’t yet reported for duty.

The cancer took Jesse Spiri’s life less than eight weeks later. Jim Spiri, with the help of former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., successfully lobbied Congress in 2003 to change the law and require coverage from the time people are commissioned in the military.

Now Spiri believes it’s time for much broader reform. He said there should be “a bipartisan consensus” behind Obama’s efforts.

Spiri also had praise for Gov. Bill Richardson, saying his initiatives to increase the number of New Mexicans with health insurance have been commendable.

Spiri’s step across party lines on health care is apparently a touchy political topic. The state Democratic and Republican parties, and even the governor’s office, did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Admit when something else is better’

Spiri has another son who is currently stationed in Iraq with the U.S. Army, and Spiri been outspoken about his conservative views on the war and other issues.

Last year, he traveled around the country to campaign for McCain. This reporter last caught up with him in October, when he watched the vice presidential debate at a Las Cruces restaurant during a campaign stop.

That night, Spiri had high praise for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, saying the she proved during the debate that “it was time to open up and show the reason that Sen. McCain picked her in the first place.”

Spiri attended Obama’s visit to Rio Rancho on credit-card reform in May. After the event, he wrote on his blog that Obama should have instead talked about supporting America’s soldiers.

“Now, my government is telling me there is plenty of money to bail out bankers and New Mexicans that cannot pay their credit card bill from Wal Mart,” he wrote.

“But my government is not saying anything about taking care of the helicopters my younger son is flying in war to give these irresponsible New Mexicans the freedom to ask the current Commander in Chief for some money to pay their credit cards off.”

But on the issue of health-care reform, Spiri said in the interview, “the people on the other side of the spectrum” including Obama “are doing a better job.”

“I think it’s important that a politically conservative person by nature admit when something else is better,” he said. “I believe there are a lot of conservatives who feel the same way I do — that may have problems with insurance or may not have coverage — that may be afraid to speak out. I’m not afraid of anything.”