Afterward “The Line” guest panelists Phil Marquez of KIVA AM 1550 and UNM law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez will discuss the race.

The Reporter also said she is the “least polarizing candidate” on a number of issues, though admitted Susana Martinez and Allen Weh are the frontrunners “if polls and dollar signs are the best indicators for such things.”

In the 3rd Congressional District’s Republican primary, the Reporter endorsed Adam Kokesh over Tom Mullins.

“While his campaign hasn’t won him fans in the party base, we find his independent thinking more interesting than that of his opponent,” the Reporter wrote. “Kokesh’s appeal has been across party lines, and his disinterest in pleasing the Republican establishment bodes well for voters who are sick of party ideologues on both sides.”

For Lt. Gov., the Reporter endorsed Jerry Ortiz y Pino in the Democratic primary and Brian Moore in the Republican primary.

For State Land Commissioner, the Reporter endorsed Ray Powell in the Democratic primary and Matt Rush in the Republican primary.

Executive director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments Lawrence Rael had 13.5 percent of the vote, State Rep. Joe Campos had 12.9 percent, State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino came in with 9.6 percent and State Sen. Linda Lopez was the pick of 8.9 percent of respondents.

“Brian has a seven point lead and unless the trend we are seeing in this survey is interrupted, he is positioned to win,” Republican political analyst Bruce Donisthorpe told Monahan.

Primary races are notoriously had to poll and more than a third of respondents were undecided in this poll. This could reflect that a primary for Lt. Gov. is a lower-tier race and does not have as much media attention on the race.

The poll does, however, have a somewhat high margin of error. Dialing Services, LLC surveyed 356 likely Democratic voters between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm on May 12. The margin of error is 5.19 percent.

The primary election will be held on June 1.

The members of the Boston-based Corporate Accountability International were joined at a recent event by state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.

Water sold in plastic bottles adds to waste and is an unnecessary expense for cash-strapped states, argues CAI and supporters. Local organizers, along with Ortiz y Pino and several businesses, are asking Gov. Bill Richardson to issue an executive order phasing out the use of state funds for bottled water.

“If we buy bottled water, we give the message that we don’t trust our water from public systems. And then how can we expect support for expanding our public-water infrastructure?” Ortiz y Pino asked Tuesday.

With the state budget, like the budgets of nearly all the states around the nation, in dire straits, many are calling for a reduction in governmental waste.

Joe Campos (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Joe Campos qualified to appear on the primary ballot for lieutenant governor on Saturday after all, the Democratic Party of New Mexico has decided.

The party says it’s required by state law to round up Campos’ 19.69 percent of delegate votes from the preprimary nominating convention to 20 percent – the threshold for qualifying for the ballot at the convention.

The ruling to reverse course and round up was made today by Party Chairman Javier Gonzales following a unanimous vote of the party’s judicial council in support of qualifying Campos for the ballot. That means the party will ask the Secretary of State’s Office to certify three lieutenant governor candidates as having qualified at Saturday’s convention – Campos, Brian Colón and Lawrence Rael.

“We’re back to work, rather us having to look for petition signatures, so obviously this is a lot better,” Campos said in an interview. “We’re going to keep pushing forward.”

Today’s ruling from the party is significant because, by law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

The statute the party cited in reversing courses states that, at any place in the election code “requiring counting or computation of numbers, any fraction or decimal greater than one-half of a whole number shall be counted as a whole number.”

“This is exactly why the Democratic Party of New Mexico waits three days before certifying, so everyone can thoroughly review the rules and make the right call,” attorney John Wertheim, a former state party chairman who was involved in the ruling, said. “In this case, the law is clear.”

The party originally announced Saturday that Colón had 34.3 percent of the vote, Rael had 21.9 percent, Campos had 19.9 percent, Jerry Ortiz y Pino had 18.86 percent and Linda Lopez had 5 percent. After a recount, Colón had 34.54 percent, Rael had 22.15 percent, Campos had 19.69 percent, Ortiz y Pino had 18.87 percent and Lopez had 4.73 percent.

Though Campos’ support fell slightly with the recount, it’s still above the 19.5 threshold at which the party would have rounded up.

Campos says he’ll keep leaping over ‘hurdles’

Campos said the new challenge to the party’s interpretation of the rules came only after a number of county party chairs complained. He said the original interpretation of the election code was an attempt to keep him off the ballot.

“It’s just tough running against the Richardson machine putting up hurdles,” he said. “We just have to keep leaping over them.”

Asked who was putting hurdles in his campaign’s path, Campos declined to specify. Richardson has not endorsed any candidate in the race, and he did not specifically accuse Richardson.

“What I’m saying is that there’s been hurdles. A lot of my supporters have been strong-armed. Donors have been threatened. It’s one after another,” he said.

Ortiz y Pino has said, though he didn’t qualify for the ballot Saturday, that he’s staying in the race.

What about Kokesh?

There’s another candidate, on the Republican side, who might be interested in the Democratic Party’s ruling. Republican 3rd Congressional District candidate Adam Kokesh won the support of 19.5 percent of delegates at his party’s preprimary convention on Saturday.

The GOP decided after considering the situation that the number should not be rounded up, citing the provision in the election code stating that “every candidate receiving twenty percent or more of the votes” at the convention qualified for the ballot.

Kokesh has said he’s staying in the race even though the party ruled that he didn’t qualify for the ballot at the preprimary convention.

The state GOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update, 8:30 p.m.

Gonzales, the Democratic Party chairman, responded to Campos’ comments about “hurdles” and donors being “threatened” by saying that the state party has done nothing to try to keep Campos off the ballot.

“To the contrary,” Gonzales said, he made the decision earlier today to qualify Campos for the ballot “prior to any county party chair involvement” – despite what Campos claimed – and prior to the meeting of the judicial council. Gonzales said the council’s vote was simply to ratify his decision.

“I’m proud of the fact that we had a successful convention,” Gonzales said. “… At the end of the day, I’m glad that we were able to cite a law that allowed a candidate (Campos) access to the ballot.”

Meanwhile, state GOP spokeswoman Janel Causey said the party is “currently reviewing this matter” as it relates to Kokesh “to ensure that the party is in strict adherence with the law, and where applicable, rules, which determine when a candidate has reached the 20 percent threshold of delegate votes necessary to earn a place on the primary ballot.”

“The delegate voting shows we have a tight race among the top candidates. In the weeks leading to the June 1 primary, any one of the top candidates has the opportunity to break away from the pack and win the election,” he wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “My campaign team has shifted into high gear and we aim to take the lead.”

“I’ve competed in some tough elections in the past. I have challenges ahead in the upcoming campaign, but my whole career as a public servant is about meeting challenges head-on and with gusto,” he said.

Brian Colón finished first at the convention with the votes of 34.54 percent of delegates. Lawrence Rael finished second at 22.15 percent, while Campos finished with 19.69 percent, Jerry Ortiz y Pino finished with 18.87 percent, and Linda Lopez finished with 4.73 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Ortiz y Pino said yesterday that he’s also staying in the race. Lopez hasn’t responded to an e-mail asking whether she’s staying in the race.

Ortiz y Pino wrote that a “race this close in the mainstream Democratic Party convention…. is simply reinforcing the basic idea that we began this campaign with.”

“That thought was that this year provides a great opportunity to mobilize progressive voters and to recapture the Democratic Party for its base: the working families of this state,” the e-mail states.

Brian Colón finished first at the convention with the votes of 34.54 percent of delegates. Lawrence Rael finished second at 22.15 percent, while Joe Campos finished with 19.69 percent, Ortiz y Pino finished with 18.87 percent, and Linda Lopez finished with 4.73 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Campos and Lopez haven’t yet responded to e-mails asking whether they are staying in the race.

Over the past three weeks, the bill worked its way through that chamber with multiple hearings before Senators passed it unanimously last week. The House amended the bill to remove changes to the Educational Retirement Board, Public Employee Retirement Board, campaign contribution limits and experience requirements and keeps the governor as the chairman; the Senate agreed to those changes.

“The bill is simplified and reflects a lot hard work by staff, the legislature and the Governor. … We are pretty much aligned in terms of balanced sweeping reform now,” Sen. Keller said in a press release.

The bill, as it goes tot he governor,  would de-centralize authority at the SIC, removing power from the State Investment Officer and giving it to the State Investment Council, but the governor would remain on the board.

It also:

• Would remove the State Investment Officer from the State Investment Council.
• Would give the State Investment Council the authority to select the State Investment Officer, not the Governor, as is the current practice.
• Would empower the Council to remove a member of the SIC for missing three meetings in a row.
• And would empower the SIC to hire and fire management services. That is now in the hands of the State Investment Officer.

The move to take authority away from the State Investment Officer came after revelations that former State Investment Officer Gary Bland made decisions on advisers and outside managers without informing the State Investment Council.

Bland, the former State Investment Officer, resigned in October after New Mexico’s former investment adviser pleaded guilty to securities fraud in New York. As part of the plea deal, Saul Meyer of Aldus Equity admitted to pushing certain deals to New Mexico’s two investment agencies — the SIC and Educational Retirement Board —because politically connected individuals here recommended them.

This post has been updated to add more information and correct errors in the sequence of passage. Sorry–we are sleep deprived.

The commission would meet six times annually and will:

• Identify domestic violence services that are lacking or in need of improvement and provide recommendations to the secretary of Children, Youth and Families Department and the governor to enhance the quality and efficiency of services statewide.

• Develop strategies for addressing issues of domestic violence and raising public awareness.

• Review laws, regulations and policies related to domestic violence to assess their effectiveness and recommended changes.

• Report annual before October 1st to an appropriate legislative interim committee and the governor on domestic violence policy issues.

“The purpose of this office is to try to recover any and all moneys possibly lost by the State Investment Council, ERB (Educational Retirement Board) and PERA (Public Employees Retirement Association),” Jennings said.

SB 269, sponsored by Jennings, D-Roswell, passed 30 to nothing in the Senate Tuesday afternoon.

The legislation would create an office of independent counsel empowered to issue subpoenas and forward possible criminal violations to the New Mexico Attorney General’s office.

So far, the State Investment Council has acknowledged losing tens of millions of dollars in investments gone sour while the Educational Retirement Board has lost $40 million. Pay-to-play allegations have swirled around the deals that ultimately went sour.

The bill also appropriates $400,000 for the new office.

Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, appeared concerned that the expenses for the new office would be paid for from the state’s investment funds, and not by moneys recouped by the special prosecutor.

“The chance of recovery is great with some of these funds,” Jennings responded. “It makes more sense than to say adios to those (lost) funds. We’ve never had anyone lose this much money.”

The idea of a special prosecutor, or independent counsel, comes at a time the State Investment Council is at the center of an ongoing scandal involving pay-to-play allegations. Federal authorities are investigating possible criminal and securities violations.

Meanwhile, former State Investment Officer Gary Bland resigned in October after New Mexico’s former investment adviser pleaded guilty to securities fraud in New York. As part of the plea deal, Saul Meyer of Aldus Equity admitted to pushing certain deals to New Mexico’s two investment agencies — the SIC and Educational Retirement Board —because politically connected individuals here recommended them.

Meyer didn’t name names. But Bland, who helped in hiring Meyer, appeared to be close to two people well known by now to those following New Mexico’s investment scandal: Marc Correra and Anthony Correra.

Marc Correra shared $22 million in fees over half a dozen years, according to spreadsheets provided by both the SIC and ERB. The huge amount of fees has provoked outrage from state lawmakers and others in recent months, fueled in part by some investments that have failed, costing the state more than $100 million by conservative estimates.

Marc Correra is the son of Anthony Correra, a friend of Richardson who was involved in the hiring of Bland, the former top staff member at the State Investment Council.

The elder Correra appears to have had a role in the hiring of Bland becoming the state investment officer.

No one in law enforcement has accused either Correra of wrongdoing. And Marc Correra’s attorneys in the past have said he worked hard to earn the fees he was paid.

The special prosecutor, as envisioned in the legislation, would determine if the money that New Mexico has lost was because of fraud and to recover those funds if possible.

If the Attorney General’s office doesn’t accept the referral the special prosecutor could continue to pursue his or her investigation.

The special prosecutor would work as an independent contractor with the New Mexico Attorney General for one year, with additional one-year extensions as an option. But it would be independent of the AG’s office and report to the Legislative Council and the Legislative Finance Committee.