MB Blog
Yesterday was the first deadline of the year for candidates to file campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State's office. Candidates are encouraged (I write "encouraged" because anybody filing a report can claim a "hardship" and fax in their paper reports) to file donation and expenditure reports on-line.
According to news reports, the Secretary of State's office has announced that it is granting a 24-hour extension for candidates to file. Additionally, the public learned this morning that this first set of campaign finance reports will not be available on-line until May 26th.
May 26th. That's just one week before the June 3rd primary election. Consider that the second candidate campaign finance report is due to be filed on May 29th. If the Secretary of State's office continues this practice of delayed public disclosure, then the second report won't be available until June 12th -- nine days after the primary election.
Folks, it's 2008. New Mexico has had an electronic reporting law on the books for five years.
Ostensibly, the law has been in effect for over two years.
With today's news of deadline extensions and two-week delays, one can only conclude that, when it comes to on-line reporting and public transparency, the Land of Enchantment has been thrown back to the Dark Ages.
According to news reports, the Secretary of State's office has announced that it is granting a 24-hour extension for candidates to file. Additionally, the public learned this morning that this first set of campaign finance reports will not be available on-line until May 26th.
May 26th. That's just one week before the June 3rd primary election. Consider that the second candidate campaign finance report is due to be filed on May 29th. If the Secretary of State's office continues this practice of delayed public disclosure, then the second report won't be available until June 12th -- nine days after the primary election.
Folks, it's 2008. New Mexico has had an electronic reporting law on the books for five years.
Ostensibly, the law has been in effect for over two years.
With today's news of deadline extensions and two-week delays, one can only conclude that, when it comes to on-line reporting and public transparency, the Land of Enchantment has been thrown back to the Dark Ages.
This past weekend, the Sunday public affairs programs were ablaze with the latest nonstarter of an idea from the campaign trail. Yes, the concept of giving motorists a "holiday" from the national gasoline tax continues to be debated, despite universal condemnation from economists.
Let's do a quick fact check about the national gas tax. Read More »
Let's do a quick fact check about the national gas tax. Read More »
By now, most Americans are cognizant of the fact that today marks the five-year anniversary of President Bush's "mission accomplished" speech. A vast majority agree that this war was a mistake - in terms of both lives sacrificed and the long-range damage to our economy.
And now we're learning more about the toll taken in the broken bodies and minds of our veterans -- and what's not being done to care for them. Read More »
And now we're learning more about the toll taken in the broken bodies and minds of our veterans -- and what's not being done to care for them. Read More »
Over the past couple of months, a discussion on the core issues facing Americans has pretty much fallen by the wayside during the presidential campaign. Americans expect an adult debate on foreign policy, the economy and health care. Instead, the 24-hour news cycle is obsessed with one candidate's middle name and who's most at home taking shots at a bar.
It's not surprising that people are getting fed up.
Fortunately for those of us who relish meaningful policy discourse, Senator John McCain is hitting the road this week to trumpet his plan for reforming the nation's broken health care system.
As a primer for the headlines that are sure to come, I thought it might be important to highlight some questions about the Senator's core policy prescription; tax credits to spur the purchase of private insurance.
Prior to the questions, however, let's review some important facts about Senator McCain's intimate relationship with the insurance industry.
Over the past dozen years, Senator McCain has raised about $3.5 million from interests tied to the insurance industry. Just shy of forty lobbyists from the industry are listed as fundraisers, co-hosts of events, or staffers for the Senator. Furthermore, several high-ranking members of the McCain campaign staff are high-paid lobbyists for insurance interests. (The campaign finance and lobbying figures are based on Public Campaign Action Fund analysis of data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics).
With this primer, three questions come to mind for the Senior Senator from Arizona. Read More »
It's not surprising that people are getting fed up.
Fortunately for those of us who relish meaningful policy discourse, Senator John McCain is hitting the road this week to trumpet his plan for reforming the nation's broken health care system.
As a primer for the headlines that are sure to come, I thought it might be important to highlight some questions about the Senator's core policy prescription; tax credits to spur the purchase of private insurance.
Prior to the questions, however, let's review some important facts about Senator McCain's intimate relationship with the insurance industry.
Over the past dozen years, Senator McCain has raised about $3.5 million from interests tied to the insurance industry. Just shy of forty lobbyists from the industry are listed as fundraisers, co-hosts of events, or staffers for the Senator. Furthermore, several high-ranking members of the McCain campaign staff are high-paid lobbyists for insurance interests. (The campaign finance and lobbying figures are based on Public Campaign Action Fund analysis of data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics).
With this primer, three questions come to mind for the Senior Senator from Arizona. Read More »
A destructive trend has gripped this country over the past three decades. Culminating with Grover Norquist's infamous musing about government ("get it down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub"), the fanatical movement to dismantle, and subsequently privatize our public structures has damaged America.
Public structures include tangible items like roads, bridges, parks and levees. But, intangible things like an emergency management system, food inspection procedures and standards for clean drinking water are also public structures. Read More »
Public structures include tangible items like roads, bridges, parks and levees. But, intangible things like an emergency management system, food inspection procedures and standards for clean drinking water are also public structures. Read More »
Is State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons playing with legal fire? Read the following for the backstory.
Albuquerque Journal
Only in New Mexico
Clearly New Mexico
Albuquerque Journal
Only in New Mexico
Clearly New Mexico
Over the weekend, the world almost ended (really, it did) because one of the candidates for president suggested that rampantly bad economic conditions for working people might actually breed bitterness.
Or, something to that effect.
The matter of whether or not Senator Obama's "bitter" point was in fact offensive has been debated at length. Some of my personal favorites include Robert Reich and TPM.
I will refrain from adding to the cacophony. Instead, let's circle around to the matter of health care costs. After all, the rising cost of health care is putting pressure on corporations and therefore affecting their ability to hire workers, right?
Well, yes and no. Read More »
Or, something to that effect.
The matter of whether or not Senator Obama's "bitter" point was in fact offensive has been debated at length. Some of my personal favorites include Robert Reich and TPM.
I will refrain from adding to the cacophony. Instead, let's circle around to the matter of health care costs. After all, the rising cost of health care is putting pressure on corporations and therefore affecting their ability to hire workers, right?
Well, yes and no. Read More »
During the first three months of 2008, the race to determine who will become the 44th President of the United States has had no shortage of compelling stories. To simply review the peaks, valleys, turns and twists would likely be worthy of a separate post.
Instead, I'd like to focus on the individuals who have been at the helm of two of the campaigns: McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the recently demoted (or not?) Clinton "chief strategist" Mark Penn.
We've already gotten an up-close look at Rick Davis on Clearly New Mexico, so perhaps we should start with Mr. Penn.
Mark Penn has been a Clinton family confidant for the better part of twelve years. Originally recruited by former Clinton advisor turned Fox News analyst, Dick Morris, Penn started out by providing polling and strategic consulting services to the 1996 Bill Clinton reelection campaign. Since then, Mr. Penn assisted with the 2000 Hilary Clinton U.S. Senate campaign and (up until today) the Hillary presidential operation.
Pretty straightforward consulting resume, right?
Not so fast. Read More »
Instead, I'd like to focus on the individuals who have been at the helm of two of the campaigns: McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the recently demoted (or not?) Clinton "chief strategist" Mark Penn.
We've already gotten an up-close look at Rick Davis on Clearly New Mexico, so perhaps we should start with Mr. Penn.
Mark Penn has been a Clinton family confidant for the better part of twelve years. Originally recruited by former Clinton advisor turned Fox News analyst, Dick Morris, Penn started out by providing polling and strategic consulting services to the 1996 Bill Clinton reelection campaign. Since then, Mr. Penn assisted with the 2000 Hilary Clinton U.S. Senate campaign and (up until today) the Hillary presidential operation.
Pretty straightforward consulting resume, right?
Not so fast. Read More »
On the eve of General David Patraeus' testimony before Congress, an emerging critique is worth mentioning.
Due to an increasingly bleak national economy and a spirited presidential contest, interest in the Iraq War is waning. Into this vacuum has slipped a narrative that the president's troop surge strategy is "working." The narrative has been repeated countless times the past three months by the president, members of Congress and political pundits.
The "surge is working" mantra was making in-roads, as evident by a recent Pew poll (hat tip to Huffington Post).
Absent facts, the folks who brought you claims of making their own reality were intent on shaping public opinion, much the way they've been doing for the past five years.
Remember the following classics? Read More »
Due to an increasingly bleak national economy and a spirited presidential contest, interest in the Iraq War is waning. Into this vacuum has slipped a narrative that the president's troop surge strategy is "working." The narrative has been repeated countless times the past three months by the president, members of Congress and political pundits.
The "surge is working" mantra was making in-roads, as evident by a recent Pew poll (hat tip to Huffington Post).
Absent facts, the folks who brought you claims of making their own reality were intent on shaping public opinion, much the way they've been doing for the past five years.
Remember the following classics? Read More »
O.K. folks, bear with me for a bit on the history review because I think we have to look more closely at the actions of the State Land Office.
The conditions under which New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6, 1912 are rather interesting. Land was the currency of the day and New Mexico had plenty of it.
The 1899 Ferguson Act and subsequent 1910 Enabling Act created the state land office and the position of Land Commissioner (first territorial land commissioner then state land commissioner). Due to the strict and highly specified provisions of the Enabling Act, the mission of the State Land Office could be distilled down to a simple matter of generating revenue for the state (mostly for education) from trust lands. Read More »
The conditions under which New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6, 1912 are rather interesting. Land was the currency of the day and New Mexico had plenty of it.
The 1899 Ferguson Act and subsequent 1910 Enabling Act created the state land office and the position of Land Commissioner (first territorial land commissioner then state land commissioner). Due to the strict and highly specified provisions of the Enabling Act, the mission of the State Land Office could be distilled down to a simple matter of generating revenue for the state (mostly for education) from trust lands. Read More »
As a result of the antiquated, 136 year-old 1872 Mining Act, mining companies have been given free reign in the extraction of raw materials from public lands, while leaving billions of dollars in clean-up costs to the American people. Read More »
The private heath care system in the United States is far from perfect-covering some, under-covering others and leaving millions to fend for themselves. Perhaps the biggest challenge in dealing with the looming health care crisis is how to make our way out of a fragmented system and into a system of universal coverage. Read More »
In what is being hailed as "one of the most significant changes to ethics rules in history", the House of Representatives approved a bill to create an independent Office of Congressional Ethics by a vote of 229 to 182.
Two of New Mexico's congressional representatives, Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, voted against the landmark bill. Read More »
Two of New Mexico's congressional representatives, Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, voted against the landmark bill. Read More »
It seems like coming out against business as usual is all the craze these days in state capitals across the country. Read More »
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