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Richardson Grok

Bill Richardson's stock is going up, according to Cokie Roberts and Stephen Roberts, writing in the Billings Gazette. The two noted that, from a fund raising perspective, both Arizona's John McCain and New Mexico's Richardson were neck and neck. But in a "glass-half-full" or "glass-half-empty" analysis, Richardson's $5 million was seen as a positive surprise, while McCain's fund raising was seen as a disappointment. The Roberts' also note that the straw poll conducted by grassroots organization moveon.org showed Richardson in second place behind John Edwards (don't forget, however, that Moveon.org was strongly supportive of Howard Dean, as well).

Or maybe Richardson's stock is going down...Leave it to small town vitriol to cast doubt on the candidate, as if everyone out there is reading the Alamogordo News. In it, Harold Teeter waxes about the current democratic candidate list, and how unfit Richardson is to run the country.

Either way, he's getting play in New Hampshire and Iowa. Richardson is the first democratic candidate to begin his/her television advertising campaign. The 30- and 60-second spots were produced by Murphy Putnam Media writes the Washington Post. They launch this week in the two states. [more]

SENATOR SERIOUS ABOUT REPEALING RAT

U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is no fan of recreation fees. Or the Federal Lands Recreation Act (FLREA), often called the Recreation Access Tax or RAT by fee opponents.

FLREA or RAT, depending on whether you collect or pay the fees, was tacked on a must-pass spending bill in December 2004, creating the authority agencies now use to aggressively increase the number of fee-based recreation sites and to substantially increase in existing fees.

But unlike many other politicians who oppose the recreation fees as a method for funding federal agencies, Baucus is seriously considering doing something about it. Something like, repealing it. [more]

Richardson Grok

Okay, so Bill Richardson may have convinced the North Koreans to shutter their nuke operations but one of Richardson's biggest political accomplishment to date could be the off-loading of former state senator Manny Aragon from state government. Aragon, who is under investigation for allegedly getting kickbacks in the building of the Metropolitan Court building in Downtown Albuquerque, lorded over the Legislature for three decades (many of which he served as Senate President Pro Tem) before Richardson placed some friends on the board of regents for New Mexico Highlands University; the regents selected Aragon as president of the beleaguered and broke school in the north, despite the faculty senate's recommendation of another candidate. Could Richardson know he needed Aragon out of the way to accomplish his ambitious agenda for the state, which he could then tout to the nation as campaign fodder? As president of NMHU, Aragon began a slow political implosion, when the school fired and/or denied tenure to several white faculty members, Aragon was ousted (the school settled the discrimination lawsuit for $250,000) and now he's allegedly deep in the Metro Court corruption case. Writes the Albuquerque Tribune in a recent story about the governor returning campaign contributions from the indictees:

The governor did sign legislation into law in 2003 to allocate $3.9 million to help pay for cost overruns on the [Metro Court] building and he signed a measure in 2004 that extended the time previously appropriated money could be spent on the project.The 2003 bill was sponsored by then-Senate Majority Leader Manny Aragon, who authorities say received $700,000 in payoffs as part of a conspiracy with others to inflate construction contracts on the courthouse. Aragon was charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering. He has not publicly commented since the indictment was announced Thursday and has yet to make an initial appearance in federal court. [more]

Politics & Prose

About eight people waited at the Boulder Book Store Tuesday night for former Denver mayor Wellington Webb to arrive and discuss his recently-released autobiography, Wellington Webb: The Man, The Mayor And The Making of Modern Denver. I’ve met people in Boulder who actually boast of never venturing into Denver, and the sparseness of the crowd for one of the most influential living figures in Denver history reinforced the impression that most Boulderites wouldn’t notice if a huge crevasse opened under that city to the southeast. A bookstore employee announced that Webb was running late, and one woman thought a different author was to appear. “It’s not Tim Hillman speaking?” she asked, holding up a paperback. “No, it’s the mayor tonight,” the bookstore employee explained. “I wonder where we’re supposed to be,” the woman pondered.
[more]

Richardson Grok

Anyone who's seen New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson give a chamber of commerce speech might have noticed his disjointed oratory tendencies. While an "everyman" -type speechmaker, staying away from big words and concepts, Richardson will often veer off course, following either a joke or a thought that appears to have just occurred to him. It makes him appear ... what, unpolished or something, especially when compared to his presidential campaign opponents, the eloquent Obama, the well practiced Hillary, and smooth-southern John. Well, Ari Richter of the Concord, NH Monitor has outed Richardson's speech making deficit in a column. Although Richter did say that Richardson "wins, hands down, the who-would-you-most-like-to-go-have-a-beer-with primary," Richter also notes that Richardson's unpracticed style could cost him in the long run. Where other candidates would have responded to a woman in the audience who volunteers in New Orleans with a back thumping statement of patriotism, Richardson seemed unsure how to react, Richter says. It is, as New Mexicans know, part of Richardson's personality to be bigger than life but hard to pin down.

Are we still talking about Wen Ho Lee? Recall Lee was the fired Los Alamos scientist whose career was ruined by defamatory statements issued by an unknown source. Richardson was Secretary of Energy at the time and is rumored to have been the source of the statements. Governor Richardson has requested a visit with New American Media, which publishes the venerable Asia Week. According to one columnist, an apology from Richardson on the Wen Ho Lee affair would be both appreciated and expected. But wouldn't that be an admission of guilt? [more]

Richardson Grok

What Bill Richardson says he would do if elected President:

"On my first day in office, I'd end the war in Iraq.

On my second day, I'd announce a plan for achieving national energy independence."

Richardson made these remarks during a Q-and-A after a speech he gave at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. During the speech, Richardson said the administration, consumed by the Iraq war, had lost focus of the real threat of a “nuclear 9-11.” “It took a Manhattan project to create the bomb," Richardson said. "We need a new Manhattan project to stop the bomb — a comprehensive program to secure all nuclear weapons and all weapons-usable material, worldwide."
[more]

Richardson Grok

In a recent column for right-wing media “watchdog” Accuracy in Media, Cliff Kincaid argues against the legitimacy of medical marijuana in a rant that reads in places like script for Reefer Madness. (Remember the kid who killed his family on Sam Donaldson’s ranch? “He was a marijuana user,” the author denounces conclusively.) Well, Kincaid also contends that billionaire activist George Soros used his clout to pull political strings here in New Mexico -- i.e. Bill Richardson’s support of the recently passed medical marijuana bill. “Richardson took $50,000 from Soros and one of his pro-marijuana front groups,” writes Buzzkill Squarepants, “and successfully pressured the New Mexico state legislature into passing a fraudulent ‘medical marijuana’ bill that offers false hope to sick people.”

Also on the Richardson beat this week: Tired legislators balk at special sessions; Don Imus flip flops; and Bill surmises tornado-ravaged Clovis. [more]

Richardson Grok

Yes, I have decided to change the column name to Grok from Watch, since the Santa Fe New Mexican started doing this Bill Richardson Watch on its website. Looks like the weekly update goes back to 2/20, so they probably had the idea before me (although maybe not?). In any case, Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune checks in with blogger After W who places big Billy in fifth place after John Edwards (fourth), Al Gore, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

On a more local scene, a victory and a defeat for Richardson that could have an impact on his campaign. The cockfighting ban finally passed, leaving poor old Louisiana as the only state to allow the practice. Medical marijauna lost a squeaker of a battle in the New Mexico State House of Representatives. Richardson told the El Paso, Texas, Times that he wants to revive the bill. Why the push for MM? Possibly because it is a pet issue of Democratic Party heavy Georg Soros, who contributed to Richardson's last gubernatorial campaign, as did the Drug Policy Alliance, which works to reform drug laws. So even if, as the New Mexican writes, Richardson did deride Gary Johnson's constant efforts to legalize marijuana, Richardson's sure pushing hard for this medical bill to pass. [more]

Richardson Watch

It will all be over by the end of next January, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told an audience in Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend.

Boston.com reported on the Governor's Iowa swing, which included house parties, meetings with bloggers and party leaders in the key early caucus state. In January 2008, four caucuses are scheduled, including Iowa, and Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The governor told the press that the small group, grassroots meetings are indicative of the type of campaign he plans to run; with possibly less funding than the other, more high-profile candidates, Richardson plans to spend a great deal of time with issues, debates and local campaigning. He told the audience, "I'm the kind of governor that gets things done."

Well, maybe, maybe not. Today's Albuquerque Journal reports that New Mexico has fallen from No. 25 in the Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation's New Economy Index, to No. 33. The index measures the degree to which states' economies are knowledge- and innovation-based, entrepreneurial, and information technology-driven as the nation's economy drifts away from manufacturing and economic development shifts from "smokestack chasing" and toward job creation and retention, writes the Journal. [more]

Health care conundrum

About 414,000 New Mexicans are without health insurance. That's 22 percent of the population (2005 numbers). Eighty Eight percent of New Mexico employers are considered small, and 41 percent of those do not offer coverage (statistics thanks to Insure New Mexico).

Here are even more statistics, courtesy the Health Security of New Mexico website: 25 percent of the population (working people and their dependents) have no medical insurance because workers and/or their employers can’t afford it. An approximate additional 20 percent are “underinsured”: a significant medical event could lead to financial ruin. It is also estimated that 50 percent of personal bankruptcies are the consequences of major illness.

A bill currently floating in the legislature would insure all New Mexicans, save those with government provided health insurance. The plan is thoughtful and seems to cover quite a few of the normal questions that arise when talking universal coverage: who will pay for it, how will it be administered, who will be eligible. The plan also takes into consideration the shortage of health care in rural areas as well as the paperwork nightmare that physicians and other providers face every single day. One insurance company to submit to, no hassles. [more]

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