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.
New Mexico passed a law in 2009 limiting political contributions, becoming one of the last states in the country to abandon the days of candidates accepting cash or checks whose denominations often came with several zeros.
The law’s passage…
The penny-ante larceny of which Jerome Block, Jr., is accused is small potatoes when compared with the great, hulking pork roast that is the public financing of campaigns. New Mexico currently extracts millions of dollars — with perfect legality — from taxpayers to fund candidates like Block in elections all over the state. That is the theft we should be angry about.
While good-government organizations such as Common Cause were lauded for their efforts in pushing for contribution limits, a sometimes unheralded ally was New Mexico’s business community, whose representatives doggedly lobbied state lawmakers through this year’s session.
Limiting the money a contributor can give to political candidates and increasing the frequency of how often those candidates must report their campaign finances are a good start for reforming the state’s ethics laws, Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday.…
What’s the old line? Be careful what you ask for.
That thought must have crossed Gov. Bill Richardson‘s mind Thursday. His staff called a news conference at the Capitol to showcase the governor signing two ethics reform bills. One…
On Saturday morning, the Senate agreed to changes the House had made to legislation that will cap the amount of money political candidates and elected officials can accept from individuals and political committees. With that simple procedural vote the Legislature sent the bill to Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he will sign it. With his signature, New Mexico will join 45 other states that already have laws on the books to limit campaign contributions to political candidates. New Mexico currently is one of only five states in the union to not limit campaign contributions.
The New Mexico State Legislature recessed at noon today, but the New Mexico Independent live blogged the last few hours of the session. Among the highlights: campaign contribution limits passed the Senate and legislators held their first open conference committee meetings. Click the headline to read the transcript.
The New Mexico House of Representatives has not taken a break since going onto the floor a little after 10 a.m. Friday.
And it’s looking right like its members could go several more hours before taking a break.
There are…
Reporters and guests live blogged from the House Friday, lasting until after 3 a.m. Saturday. A stem cell research bill and the SunCal tax increment development districts (TIDDS) failed, while a TIDD for Winrock and campaign contribution limits passed. Read the details in the transcript by clicking on the headline.
The Senate voted on Thursday 40-1 to pass legislation that caps the amount of money contributors could give to political candidates and elected officials.
Legislation that would cap — for the first time — the amount that financial contributors could give to New Mexico political candidates and elected officials easily cleared a Senate committee considered by some as wary of such measures.
Former state lawmakers would need to wait a year after their terms end to return to the Roundhouse as a lobbyist under legislation that hurdled a Senate committee Friday. This week, the proposal will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
