“Many thanks to all of you that have been encouraging me to run for Congress,” Keller said in the email to supporters. “I greatly appreciate your enthusiasm!”

Keller represents part of Albuquerque in the New Mexico Senate.

The 1st Congressional District seat will feature an open seat race because current Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., is running for U.S. Senate. Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced earlier this year he would not seek a sixth term in the position.

State Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, has formed an exploratory committee to run for the position. State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, and Terry Brunner, who heads the USDA Rural Development in New Mexico and was Bingaman’s former state director, are also considering running for the position.

Among Republicans, Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis has announced his candidacy and former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones has formed an exploratory committee.

New Mexico Senators criticized vetoes made today by Gov. Susana Martinez. Today is the last day for Martinez to act on bills passed by the legislature otherwise they are pocket vetoed.

Sens. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, and George Munoz, D-Gallup, said a veto of a bill to create a health insurance exchange may mean more federal control of the insurance marketplace in New Mexico.

“It’s going to mean federal — and not state — control of health care,” said Munoz in a statement.

Feldman noted that New Mexico has already received $1 million in federal funding to begin planning state exchange.

“But further funding is dependent on the legislature setting up a governance structure, which SB 38 would have done,” Feldman said.

Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, criticized Martinez for vetoing transparency and accountability bills.

The two pieces of legislation that received the most attention were bills that would make changes to the State Investment Council, including taking the governor off the council, and creating a tax expenditure budget to track tax deductions, incentives and carve-outs given by the state.

“All of these bills were bipartisan and overwhelmingly supported,” Keller said in a statement. “The legislature is elected and charged by our constitution to make laws. That should mean something.”

The health care exchange legislation in question, SB 38 and SB 370, would have helped create health insurance exchanges to implement the health insurance reform passed last year by Congress.

This is something that has been going on throughout the nation. Politico reported last week that tea party activists helped block health insurance exchanges in a number of states.

However, Len Nichols, a health care policy expert at George Mason University, told The New Republic that states creating their own health care exchanges is one way to reduce federal power over health care.

Ironically, the only way to make PPACA a “federal takeover” is for states to do nothing. There is much state flexibility in the law, and much more could be sensibly negotiated and amended before 2014, but the strategy of repeal, do nothing and “get the government out of health care” will have exactly the opposite effect in those states that follow this path.

But tea party activists in other states say they should not create health care exchanges because a federal judge ruled the entire health care law unconstitutional.

However, the health care reform law has been upheld in court cases as well and is still in effect. It will almost certainly be appealed to, and heard by, the Supreme Court.

Keller has pushed changes to the State Investment Council since it has been rocked by scandal in recent years. Martinez also vetoed a bill that would, according to the Fiscal Impact Report of the bill by the Legislative Finance Council, “direct the State Investment Council to establish a subcommittee of its members to evaluate economically targeted investments (ETIs) by the council.”

The fourth of Keller’s bills that Martinez vetoed would have created a legislative office of accountability that would allow the LFC, according to Keller’s statement, “to receive and protect confidential information necessary for its important oversight function.”

Gov. Susana Martinez said she will webcast State Investment Council meetings according to a report from NMPolitics.net Friday morning.

Martinez’s move comes after she has been criticized for sending workers to tape committee meetings for what some Democrats believe are political reasons.

“People should not be prohibited from filming or recording public meetings of the executive, and our office will begin webcasting certain meetings ourselves, beginning with the State Investment Council,” Martinez told NMPolitics.net in a prepared statement.

NMPolitics.net’s Heath Haussamen suggested that Martinez webcast meetings of the State Investment Council and the State Transportation Commission.

“Those are two public bodies under Martinez’s control that deal with a lot of money,” Haussamen wrote. “It’s important to make their meetings more accessible too.”

The state Senate approved a rule that allows committee chairs to stop people from video taping committee hearings. The rule does not apply to the news media.

The next meeting for the State Investment Council is in March but it may not feature Martinez. A bill by state Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, seeks to remove the governor from the council. The bill has already passed the Senate and has been assigned to committees in the House.

The bill was amended in the Senate allowing the governor to stay on the State Investment Council until 2013.

State Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, announced his second phase of reform of the State Investment Fund: His new proposed legislation for the upcoming 60-day session includes taking the governor off of the State Investment Council (SIC) entirely.

“We made big changes last round that helped a lot, but it wasn’t quite enough. It’s now time that we finish the job,” Keller said in a statement to the press. “This summer new structural problems have come to light for all of our investment funds. My legislative package will address these, including the most significant, taking the governor off the SIC entirely.”

Keller will be presenting the legislation for interim endorsement at the Legislative Investment Oversight Committee on December 1. Legislators can begin pre-filing legislation for the 60-day session beginning on December 15.

Last year, Keller’s SB 18 passed both the House and Senate unanimously on its way to becoming law. That law sharply reduced the power that the governor had over the SIC.

In this new legislation, the governor would still retain the power to appoint several seats to the investment board.

Keller’s proposed legislation would also seek to eliminate “a structural conflict of interest” in investigating for securities fraud as well as seeking to establish “a formal structure and performance metrics for all the Economic Targeted Investments, including the state film fund.”

Keller says he’ll also seek to “depoliticize” the small business investment council which invests about $45 million to small businesses.

Despite live reggae and jazz music, and vendors offering pastries and locally-grown organic farm produce, fewer than 100 visitors were on hand for talks by state Sen. Tim Keller and Public Regulation Commission (PRC) Commissioner Jason Marks.

Of 30 state and local policymakers invited to speak, only two elected officials — Keller and Marks — participated, UNM biology professor Bruce Milne told The Independent.

“I would have thought more of them would come share their ideas with the public,” Milne said. “So I’m disappointed in that. But the ones we had were awesome — factually based.”

The gathering was one of more than 7,000 climate and energy policy summits held around the world.

Keller and Marks promoted the potential economic benefits to New Mexico of a green jobs agenda.

“The economic impact of making New Mexico a carbon-neutral state would be profound,” Keller said. “If we acted to produce solar power here, there would be a $240 billion impact annually in our state. That would put us in the top 10 (state) economies in the U.S.”

“New Mexico receives enough solar energy that if we came close to developing it…we could produce more electricity than the entire U.S. uses just here in New Mexico,” Marks told an audience composed primarily of college students. “Nuclear and clean coal have financial and environmental problems. We have much stronger options (with solar) here in the Southwest.”

The U.S. electric sector is the single largest emitter of so-called greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, Marks said.

“Three-quarters of those emissions are from coal plants,” Marks said. “It’s pretty simple. We cannot build anymore conventional coal plants.”

But conservative politicians have blocked renewable energy policies for short-term political gain, suggested Marks.
“It’s a combination of greed and selfishness,” Marks said. “Exxon-Mobile makes $45 billion in annual profits but we have people out there saying we can’t afford to go green.”

After the speeches, Milne led a campus tour showcasing UNM’s environmental sustainability initiatives.

“We have a carbon-neutral plan signed and ready to go,” Milne said.

Keller urged voters to elect candidates who support making New Mexico a carbon-neutral state.

While a number of high-profile ethics and transparency measures died as the clock expired on the regular session last week, the New Mexico Legislature also sent a number of significant proposals to the governor for action.

Ethics and transparency measures that were approved include a whistleblower protection law, reform of the State Investment Council, the creation of a so-called “Sunshine Portal” and an expansion of webcasting in the House of Representatives.

“Every one of those seems to be a really good measure. And the positive thing is, the good ones seemed to make it through and the bad ones didn’t,” said House Minority Whip Keith Gardner, R-Roswell.

Gardner cited the proposal to create a state ethics commission as a measure that was appropriately killed, saying the secrecy provisions in that legislation – which cost the bill the support of ethics activists – made it unworkable.

While activists were disappointed about the deaths of some ethics and transparency proposals, the sunshine portal is one important piece of legislation that passed, said Steven Robert Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. He said another important move toward greater transparency was the House’s expansion of webcasting to include video from the floor and audio and video of committee meetings.

“One thing that we saw in last year’s session was this great move to increase openness over the entire process of government in New Mexico,” Allen said. “At the time, a lot of advocates were saying, once this door is open, it’s just going to get wider. I think we saw that this session, in particular with the sunshine portal and the expansion of webcasting to House committee rooms.”

“I think some very important things were accomplished,” Allen said, adding that he’d like to see the Senate expand webcasting as well.

The Legislature also sent the governor a bill that would reform the scandal-plagued SIC. The legislation would de-centralize authority at investment agency, taking power from the state investment officer and giving it to the council.

Approval of that legislation came after a great deal of debate.

“This bill is the result of best practices that decentralize and eliminate the many structural conflicts of interest that have been woven into the governance of these funds over time,” Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, said about the bill, which he sponsored.

And the Legislature sent two bills to the governor that would enact a whistleblower protection law. Both pieces of legislation would protect public employees from retaliation for exposing wrongdoing by their employers.

“We’re pleased on both counts and we feel that this is another step forward in maintaining good government,” said Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. “We fully intend to encourage the governor in a formal way – in terms of a letter – to sign the bills.”

The webcasting expansion came through changing House rules, so action from the governor wasn’t required. The other ethics and transparency bills all awaits Richardson’s action, which must come within 20 days of the end the session.

“I was promised it would be heard last night, and then I was promised it would be heard this morning,” said Rep. Paul Bandy, R-Aztec, who has accused House Speaker Ben Lujan of trying to keep the House from voting on the veto override.

Sponsored by Sen. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, SB 531 passed unanimously through the Roundhouse last year, but was pocket-vetoed by Gov. Bill Richardson.

The federal Medicaid Integrity Group said recently that it plans to investigate allegations reported in The Independent that the HSD stonewalled Medicaid Fraud Division investigators during 2008 and 2009.

According to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud & Elder Abuse Division, better compliance with Medicaid rules and regulations could have saved taxpayers up to $31 million.

Both Bandy and Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, asked Chairman Al Park, D-Albuquerque, on Wednesday why SB 531 wasn’t heard  Wednesday morning.

Park told them he wanted to make sure Keller was there to present the bill and that SB 531 is a “controversial” bill.

Keller was in his office about the time Park made those comments in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.

Bandy had his own theory why the bill wasn’t heard.

“I think the Speaker doesn’t want to embarrass the governor,” the GOP lawmaker told the Independent.

Park said he fully intends to hear the bill this afternoon.

“My intention is to hear all legislation and take action, whatever that may be,” Park said.

It’s still unclear why a House committee would even consider a veto override. And no one has an answer, including Park, who demurred from answering the question Wednesday morning.

House Judiciary stands between the bill and a full House vote. But with less than 24 hours before the session ends, time is running out.

During the Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday morning, Park told members and the audience that Sen. Keller was notified SB 531 was coming up on the agenda. In fact, Rep. Bandy told The Independent he was supposed to call Keller when time grew near to present the bill. But since Bandy heard from the Chairman that Keller had already been notified, he didn’t make the call.

Those details would be important because the committee ran out of time to hear SB 531.

“My opinion is that they should have judged her on her professional qualifications,” the Governor said.

Holguin’s nomination got caught in the crosshairs of an internal fight over control of the Democratic Party and controversy over state environmental regulations.

Holguin managed the 2008 political campaigns of Sens. Tim Keller and Eric Griego. The duo knocked off then-Democratic Sens. Shannon Robinson and James Taylor a the June primary election that 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 incumbent lawmakers from both political parties charged 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 in an e-mail expressed surprise and disappointment at Tuesday’s vote.

“Since July, I’ve served on the Environmental Improvement Board in a thoughtful and principled manner,” she said in the e-mail. “I have a long track record of working on conservation in New Mexico. I will continue to advocate for the responsible stewardship of our natural resources and the public health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans.”

A tally sheet of the Senate vote shows that 10 Democrats joined 15 Republicans to reject Holguin’s nomination.

They were Linda Lopez, David Ulibarri, John Arthur Smith, John Sapien, Bernadette Sanchez, John Pinto, Mary Kay Papen, George Munoz, Howie Morales and Richard Martinez.

Bernadette Sanchez, in particular, spoke out in opposition to Holguin’s nomination on the Senate floor.

Sanchez’s constituents in 2008 received educational mailers sent out by the nonprofits before that year’s primary election. Sanchez did not face an opponent.

All 15 Republicans voted against Holguin’s nomination too.

It’s hard to discern what led to that, but 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.

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.”