New Mexico’s attorney general Gary King, a democrat previously linked to pay-to-play scandals, told reporters yesterday that it was entirely legal to accept a $15,000 political contribution from the New York City law firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger and Grossman LLP last month — despite the nine-month-old campaign contribution limits law he championed less than a year ago.

In his defense, he told reporters that because he was no longer a candidate when the check arrived on September 22 but already an elected official that it was fine to apply the funds to debts incurred during his 2010 campaign. “The easy legal solution,” he said, “is that it applies to candidates in elections 2012 and after. And I am not a candidate.”

The matter now goes to Secretary of State Dianna Duran, whose office tends to turn to the Attorney General for legal advice. King is confident that after Duran’s lawyers reflect on his interpretation of things, “they’ll agree” with him.

King’s contributions come at a particularly busy time in campaign contributions news.

Last Friday,  James Bopp Jr., an Indiana lawyer who specializes in lawsuits aimed at ending campaign finance and disclosure laws, filed, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s campaign contributions limits law along with other plaintiffs from New Mexico (including state senator Rod Adair, R-Roswell, former New Mexico Republican Party chair Harvey Yates, and state representative James Conrad, R-Albuquerque).

It was also reported today that Governor Susana Martinez took in $66,000 in campaign contributions last month. She claimed her acceptance of the money “adheres to both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

King has come under scrutiny because the $15,000 contributions are well above the limit as set forth in the state’s campaign contributions limits law, which banned pledges of $5,000 or more per election cycle as of November 3 of last year (the day after he was reelected as attorney general).

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head Saturday afternoon at a Congressional meet and greet in her Tucson district.

Doctors says the shot went through her head, through her brain and out the other side. She has undergone surgery and is currently listed in critical condition. Police say at least 18 were shot during the attack, and five of them have been confirmed dead by hospital officials. The shooting victim are hospitalized in serious or critical condition.

Police have identified a suspect, naming 22-year-old Jared Loughner. Loughner, of Tucson appears to have a YouTube video channel on which he has posted videos of burning U.S. flags. He lists among his favorite books classics such as Alice in Wonderland, as well as the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf.

Giffords was targeted by Sarah Palin in the Novemeber election because she supported health care reform legislation. Giffords’ district was one of the districts Palin’s PAC marked with a rifle sight on itsFacebook Page.

“We’ll aim for these races and many others,” the site said. “This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington.”

Michigan Tea Party Activists, meanwhile, were quick to distance themselves from the shooting.

Gene Clem sent a message to the Southwest Michigan Tea Party Patriots Facebook group:

This shooting in AZ seems to be an act by a deranged individual as of this time (4:30 pm EST, 8Jan). The main stream media is bent on bringing the Tea Party into the story. There is nothing to indicate that any Tea Party organization is behind this and to even hint that there is, is ludicrous. …

Please pray for those wounded and the families of those killed today. And pray for our nation and our local and federal leaders that they be guided by God’s Truth.

While police have the alleged gunman in custody, there has been no statement from investigators as to what motivated the shooter.

Giffords serves on the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. That group released a statement about the shooting.

“Congresswoman Giffords’ support for our LGBT family has never faltered. After coming off of one of the closest races in the most recent election cycle, one in which she was criticized for her support of equality issues, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to support the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. She has stood with us unrelentingly and in this sad time we stand with her. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Congresswoman, her staff and their families,” said LGBT Congressional Staff Association President, Chris Crowe.

The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT organization based in D.C., also released a statement about the shooting from group President Joe Solomonese:

“We are shocked and saddened by the events involving Congresswoman Giffords and our hearts go out to her and the other victims of this awful tragedy. Gabby Giffords is a champion for LGBT equality and a principled leader for Arizona. We wish her a speedy recovery as our thoughts and prayers are with her family as well as with the families of all of those touched by today’s horrific violence.”

In addition to Gov. Susana Martinez, two other new statewide officials were sworn in on Saturday. Ray Powell officially became State Land Commissioner for a second time, and Dianna Duran became the state’s first Republican Secretary of State since 1930.

Powell served as state land commissioner from 1993 to 2002. Powell took over for Pat Lyons, a Republican who was elected to the Public Regulation Commission in November after being term-limited as Commissioner of Public Lands. Powell promised to make the State Land Office “as transparent as possible.”

Duran replaced controversial and scandal-plagued Democrat Mary Herrera, easily beating the incumbent in the general election. Duran says that one of her main priorities will be lobbying the legislature on controversial voter-ID requirements.

The other statewide positions were won by the incumbents. Hector Balderas retained his position as State Auditor, James Lewis retained his position as State Treasurer and Gary King retained his position as State Attorney General. All three are Democrats.

All were sworn in for their second term on Saturday.

Governor-elect Susana Martinez indicated that she may not keep key campaign promises to not cut education or Medicaid to balance the state’s budget. Martinez’s transition team told NMPolitics.net that cuts in the two areas are “certainly a possibility.”

Martinez has also pledged to not raise taxes in her first year as governor.

Martinez has used accusations that Gov. Bill Richardson’s team hid the real size of the budget until after the campaign as cover for potentially breaking her promises made throughout the campaign, prompting a response from Richardson’s office saying that Martinez was mistaken. The Independent reported at the time:

“The revelation of a near half-billion dollar deficit is far worse than expected and confirms our suspicions that the Richardson/Denish administration has been hiding the ball all along with respect to the true budget deficit,” Martinez said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon. “This clearly has very serious implications for all New Mexicans. I will work with the legislature to make the tough decisions necessary to balance the budget by getting spending under control.”

Martinez’s accusatory tone, in turn, provoked a sharp reaction from the Richardson administration, which released its own statement a little more than an hour following Martinez’s.

“It’s not surprising that Susana Martinez doesn’t understand the state budget and the growth of Medicaid since she ignored it during the campaign and has not yet accepted our offer for a thorough briefing,” Richardson’s deputy chief of staff, Gilbert Gallegos, said in a statement. ”She can’t keep her unrealistic promises and still balance the budget.”

The projection is for the fiscal year which runs from July 2011 to June 2012.

Governor-elect Susana Martinez named Republican businessman and former Republican congressional candidate Jon Barela her nominee for economic development secretary Friday afternoon. Barela was the president of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education as well as serving as vice chairof the Republican Party of New Mexico.

Barela is the owner founder and owner of the company Cerelink, which provides “cloud computing” to movie production companies. Cerelink was helped by state film rebates that Martinez both opposed in her election campaign and seems likely to try to end. Cerelink promoted the rebate program on its website.

Martinez says she will order an immediate review of the film tax credit program after being sworn in.

Martinez made the announcement at a press conference Friday afternoon.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Denish outspent Gov.-elect Susana Martinez in the bitter gubernatorial race. Denish spent over $7 million on her bid to become governor while Martinez spent $6.7 million.

Denish raised more than $335,000 in the campaign finance reporting period which began on October 27 and has more than $185,000 left in her campaign coffers.

Martinez raised $312,000 and reported more than $100,000 left in her campaign treasury according to reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office.

That’s not the end of the fundraising for Martinez, however. She’ll be raising money for her inaugural ball and other events celebrating her inauguration. The events — including a Las Cruces Inaugural Send-Off Gala, the Children’s Inaugural Ball for kids ages 5-11 and her Bold Inaugural Ball — will all be paid for with private donations. Martinez promises to publicly disclose the donors.

Gov.-elect Susana Martinez was elected as an at-large member for the Republican Governor’s Association leadership team at its annual meeting in San Diego Thursday, reflecting her status as a rising star in the party just weeks after her election. Martinez was the first Hispanic woman to be elected as a governor, and the first woman governor of New Mexico.

However, Martinez will face a $452 million budget deficit out of a $5.6 billion budget when she comes to office–a gap that was much larger than expected.

How chaotic is the leadership battle in the state House of Representatives at the moment? Have you got a hour or so to run through all the scenarios?

Here goes:

House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambe, has reportedly reached out to some Republicans to shore up support in his bid to continue his run as speaker of the House, Heath Haussamen at NMPolitics.net reports today.

But so has Rep. Thomas Garcia, D-Ocate, Haussamen adds. Garcia, going into his third term as a state lawmaker, has been rumored for a couple of weeks as someone who was contemplating a coalition with Republicans to wrest control from Lujan as speaker. Haussamen reports that House Minority Leader Thomas Taylor, R-Farmington, told him Saturday that Garcia has indeed reached out to some Republicans about a possible coalition.

Garcia joins Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, on a list of Democratic state lawmakers whose names have been mentioned as potential threats to Lujan’s leadership.

Recent electoral results have shifted power in the House, which is causing the behind-the scenes battle for power. Democrats lost eight seats in the Nov. 2 elections, shaving their margin of control as a majority party in the chamber from 45-25 to 37-33, which is why GOP lawmakers ostensibly are being courted so heavily.

It’s unclear how supportive the newly empowered House Republicans are of a power-sharing agreement with Democrats, if it should come to that. I guess we’ll see in coming days if things progress that way.

There’s a reason the House Speaker post is at the center of all the political scheming. Whoever is Speaker of the House is the single most powerful lawmaker in the Legislature. That person controls if, and when, legislation comes up for a vote in that chamber and how easy or difficult a path a particular bill faces to win passage. The speaker assigns bills to House committees to vet the legislation. Some committees are viewed as the killing fields depending on the legislation.

The Speaker also selects lawmakers to lead House legislative committees, meaning the Speaker has an instant base of power beyond the inherent authority of the position. Committee chairpersons often support the person who put them in those powerful posts.

House Democrats will meet this weekend to decide who they will support as leader as a caucus. As many of the sources in Haussamen’s post tell him, it’s too confusing at the moment to know what will happen given all the potential scenarios.

Susana Martinez

For the past year on the campaign trail Governor-elect Susana Martinez has hammered away at the corruption and serial scandals that have plagued New Mexico since 2005.

Her response to voters was always the same. She’d treat corruption for what it was – a crime. And then she’d mention her idea of creating a special State Police unit charged with investigating public corruption instead of pushing for an independent ethics commission, a perennial loser with state lawmakers.

Now, with two months before her first legislative session, Martinez must convince state lawmakers of the worthiness of her idea.

There are signs it won’t be easy. Due in part to the state’s woebegone finances, creating a new police division appears unpopular with some lawmakers who worry about spending more money at a time when the state is broke.

Then there’s the wariness with which some state lawmakers view the executive branch, particularly given the constant tug-of-war the Legislature and Gov. Bill Richardson endured over a plethora of  issues.

It is not lost on some lawmakers that Martinez is talking about placing responsibility for prosecuting corruption at an agency under the governor’s control.

“Most people think there’s more corruption in the executive branch,” said Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. “That’s what we’ve seen more of, where more of it appears to be.”

Martinez, the budget and where ethics fits in

Martinez has spent her first days as governor-elect calling or meeting with legislative leaders, mostly about budget matters. Fixing the state budget will rank as the top priority during the coming legislative session, meaning dollars and cents, and not ethics or corruption, likely will dominate discussions between Martinez and legislative leaders.

As of last week, Martinez said she didn’t yet have a sense of whether legislative leaders were open to an idea of a corruption-busting State Police unit. That hasn’t stopped her from lifting entire paragraphs of boilerplate from the campaign trail to continue lobbying for the idea.

New Mexicans want more than an independent ethics commission to guard against future corruption, she told a small crowd last week at an Albuquerque press conference. As she did on the campaign trail, Martinez dismissed an independent commission as “politicians who are looking at politicians who are then investigating politicians,” she said. “That is unacceptable to this administration.”

Martinez’s idea has caught on with some lawmakers, among them, Sen. Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales.

“There is no doubt we need someone to investigate corruption,” Ingle said. Attorney General Gary King is supposed to be out in front in the fight of corruption, Ingle said, but “there’s nothing being done.”

But the Portales Republican acknowledges the state’s precarious financial straits when talk of how to pay for a new state corruption unit comes up.

“It’s going to depend on the extra money that is needed,” he said.

While support is hard to quantify, the idea already has picked up some powerful opponents. Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, and chairman of the Legislature’s budget arm, the Legislative Finance Committee, is clear where he stands on the idea, and it’s not behind it.

Chances are the state police might be uprooted from its current home, the Department of Public Safety, because of an ongoing government-restructuring effort, Varela added.

“I don’t have it in my mind where the state police should be,” Varela said. “We’re not there. I would suspect the Department of Public Safety would look differently once we get done with it.”

Corruption looms large in New Mexico

Corruption, and how to fight it, has been on New Mexico’s legislative agenda ever since 2005, when a string of several high-profile scandals began. Since then two former state treasurers, a former Senate president and a deputy insurance superintendent are among the public officials who either have pleaded guilty to or have been convicted of corruption-related charges.

Add to the mix at least two federal criminal probes of Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, and how New Mexico’s public officials conduct business has become a matter of urgency for government reformers.

But all the high-profile scandals, and what appeared to be support of ethics reforms by an overwhelming number of New Mexicans, wasn’t enough to propel one of the reformers’ biggest goals into law — an independent ethics commission.

For four years Richardson and state lawmakers wrestled over how to set up such a commission, who would sit on it and how members would be appointed.  The concept has proved deeply unpopular at the Capitol, and never got close to passing.

This year, for example, reformers and advocates actively opposed an ethics commission bill after lawmakers added language that would have punished more harshly a person who publicly spoke of testifying before the commission than an individual found to have violated the public trust.

Ethics commissions across the nation

Despite Martinez’s dismissal of ethics commissions as the playground of politicians who have no incentive to punish wrongdoing, ethics commissions in other states such as Ohio and Connecticut have investigated and fined governors for ethical lapses, demonstrating that some panels have some bite and aren’t merely showpieces.

In fact, New Mexico is one of a handful of states without a commission. More than 40 already have one, including many of New Mexico’s neighbors such as Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Nevada, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Arizona, like New Mexico, does not have one.

Looking forward

But the idea of a commission appears shelved, at least for now, as Martinez takes the helm of the state and tries out her idea of bolstering criminal prosecution of corruption.

Jennings, the Democratic senate leader, however, offered a reminder of how potentially strewn with obstacles the path to creating a special State Police unit might become during the coming legislative session.

“Before we create new divisions, we better get rid of a lot of what we have and get our budget in control,” Jennings said of the state’s budget situation. “It’s easy to add government, but hard to take it away.”