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- Dave

If you’re curious, here’s what Domenici had to say about his fellow elderly Republican:

Mr. President, I rise now because I look around and I don’t think there is any Senator left on the floor who has served longer than I with him. He has had his 40; I have had my 36.

Senator, I just want to say this to you. The Constitution of the United States said that there will be a difference between the Senate and the House. They said the way to get a constitution is to make sure they provide that individually the States would be adequately represented. And they said: We will make sure of that by creating a U.S. Senate where two Senators represent the State.

My friend, I want to say to you, obviously I have traveled a little bit different path in my 36 years, but many times the paths have crossed–you and this Senator. I do want to say that, more than anyone else, you have taught me the meaning of representing my State. You are unabashed about that. That caused me on many occasions to think about what I was doing and whether I was representing my State correctly, to the full extent of my ability, and whether I did that with gusto, knowing that we needed things. For we are comparable in that we are a very poor State. We are among the last that came in, and we have many of the same problems you have.

It has truly been a luxury of my life to work with you, to see how you got things done, and, from time to time, to be able to help you because you asked–you were unabashed in that regard too–to help your State. You would ask any of us to join you in your cause, and most of us did that willingly.

… But, Senator, I wish to say just a word to the people of your State.

We know Ted Stevens as a Senator representing you people. A big event has occurred in the life of Ted Stevens that you people of Alaska quite properly have been involved in. But none of us who have worked with him could let this day pass with anyone not knowing–whether they be in Alaska, a Native of Alaska or resident of Alaska or a Native, true Native–all of you must know of the high respect and great esteem in which we hold your Senator. We are most grateful that you sent him here for 40 years. For some of us, it ends too abruptly, but every ride seems to have an end.

All I hope is, with what you have left in your life, that you will feel this day is a special one, when Senators have put their hearts out here on the Senate floor to tell you who you were to them, what you meant to them. I hope I have done my share in my few moments. Nobody will know how many times we have talked and met, how many times you and I have shared personal things and gone on with our own business, but we were certain to mention our personal problems along with it, things we wanted to share as men. I thank you for every bit of that.

To the extent that some of our prayers and the prayers of some of our relatives whom I asked personally to pray for you–I hope it has had some good. I hope when you were down, you were lifted a bit. I hope that today you are going to be lifted more so that you can stand what is ahead of you with a high head and come out of it with more of the successes of your life right out in front of you for you to feel and touch, as those hard issues still remain.

Thank you for your friendship.

Amen.

The Visionaries

About swingstateofmind.com: “The charming and trend savvy type. They are especially attuned to the big picture and anticipate trends. They often have sophisticated language skills and come across as witty and social. At the end of the day, however, they are pragmatic decision makers and have a good analytical abilitity.They enjoy work that lets them use their cleverness, great communication skills and knack for new exciting ventures. They have to look out not to become quitters, since they easily get bored when the creative exciting start-up phase is over.”

Thanks Typealyzer via Andrew Sullivan.

In the week before the election, SOS spokesman James Flores had told reporters the office expected to send out a letter regarding three payments identified as potentially illegal by SFR. Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo III now says that the office’s counsel, provided by the Attorney General’s office, has deemed the three payments (including one to the AG’s constituent service’s manager) legal and appropriate.

UPDATED:

Here’s the letter from Jerome Block in which he explains the payments after reading about the SOS’s plan to investigate him in the “local press.” An excerpt:

Block first contradicts statements he (and his father) made in July to SFR about why they had not paid the bill for Block’s Web site. Back then, Block claimed he’d never been billed. Now, Block’s claiming that it was because he was unhappy with the site. However, there was no change whatsoever in the Web site between when it was launched and when he finally paid for it.

Block then contradicts statements made by the Attorney General’s office regarding payments made to constituent service manager Cordy Medina for a mailout. The AG says Medina was owed for a mailout sent out in March. Block says they were paying her in advance for a mailout during the general election.

Here’s the Secretary of State’s letter exonerating Block.  You will see that the Secretary of State’s office gives no explanation whatsoever as how it made its decision, what investigation was made into the inconsistencies in Block’s stories or how it reconciles the issue with state law. Here’s an excerpt:

According to the Voter Action Act:

1-19A-7. Guidelines and restrictions for contributions to and expenditures of certified candidates. (2007)
A. All money distributed to a certified candidate shall be used for that candidate’s campaign-related purposes in the election cycle in which the money was distributed…
C. A certified candidate shall limit total campaign expenditures and debts to the amount of money distributed to that candidate from the fund.

The election cycle is further determined by law:

E. “election cycle” means the primary and general elections for the same term of the same covered office, beginning on the day after the last general election for the office and ending with the general election; the primary election cycle begins on the first day of the election cycle and ends on the day of the primary election; the general election begins on the day after the primary election and ends on the day of the general election;

Regarding the San Miguel Democratic Party payments: the county-level party’s reports show that the money was either used to rent office space or to host fundraisers for Ben Ray Lujan and Tom Udall. There has been no evidence of a “coordinated campaign.”

“I am hopeful that this resolves all issues between my campaign and your office,” Block wrote in his hand-delivered letter.

MMmmmaybe.

We’re waiting for word on that from Mary Herrera’s office.

Updated 3:30 p.m.-ish: Nope. Block has two remaining issues to clear up, says Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo II.
The first—whether any public money still needs to be returned to the state public election fund—will be made clear when Block files his December campaign finance report.
The second concerns slightly over $2,000 in expenditures—including a $1,500 contribution to Democratic Party of San Miguel County—that the state still has questions about.
“We are going to invite him (early next) week to come visit with us and have him explain those different expenditures,” Trujillo says.

Block didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

At this point, several questions remain. Foremost among them: Is Maass sorry he’s on vacation?

I’ll post Block’s letter as soon as I can make Wordpress work right. Here’s the letter:

Proposition 8, which passed in California, bans gay marriage, which had been legal in the state since the previous spring, following a state Supreme Court ruling. Since election day, support for gay marriage and opposition to Prop 8 has been growing;. Protests are planned around the country for this Saturday. (There also is a protest planned in Albuquerque

Santa Fe’s protest has been organized by Dona Hatch, one of the ad reps here at the Reporter, who is very involved with GLBT rights issues in the state. Here’s her press release:

RALLY ‘ROUND THE ROUNDHOUSE
Against California’s Prop 8

In response to the passage of Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage on election day, Nov. 4, there is an effort nation wide to have rallies across the country all at the same time. Here in Santa Fe, we are planning a rally at The Roundhouse (on the east side facing Old Santa Fe Trail) on Sat., Nov 15th at 11:30am. We want to show our solidarity for all the LGBT couples in California who are now in danger of losing their marital status.
Speaking at the rally will be several couples that have recently been married in California. Also speaking will be some currently involved in the passing of a domestic partnership law in New Mexico.
Why are we doing this in Santa Fe? New Mexico currently has no law or constitutional provision that prohibits same-sex marriage. We are one of few states that does not have affirmative prohibition of same-sex marriage in state law.  The fear is that in the upcoming legislative session of 2009, we’ll see legislation that will ban gay marriage.This rally is a way for us to stand up for our rights here in this state as well as every other state.

The consolation, I guess, is that FOX was duped first.

Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Brian Colon is on record telling SFR that we treat the party fairly…that is until we grilled him on the election cycle, the primary caucus comedy-of-errors, his political ambitions and whether he taunted his Republican counterpart with text messages after New Mexico’s Congressional delegation went true blue.

DM: Are you the most popular state chairman in the country right now?

BC: Well, I don’t know about that. I know that my colleagues are all very excited for us out here in New Mexico.

Do we still count as a swing state?

You bet. I think we are as blue as they get right now, but I think New Mexicans are always going to be paying very close attention to how hard their public officials work.

Let’s look back at the last year. There was obviously some problem with the Caucus. Weren’t we supposed to have some sort of big meeting to talk about the caucus and what can be done better?

No, no.

I thought there was going to be a big public meeting.

We talked about doing lots of different things but then we decided that we would focus on the victory in November and that’s exactly what we got.

Will there be anything in the future regarding that or are we just hoping it will sort itself out by the time the next caucus comes around.

The question will be whether we have another caucus.

You think we’ll make the move to an actual primary?

I think that’s up for discussion. I, for one, think the idea of an early primary is the feeling.

Still in February?

It kind of depends. New Mexico really needs to make sure we’re relevant and at the table in terms of who the nominee is going to be. I think there’s a national movement to reevaluate the whole primary process. It’ll be interesting to see where we go from here in the next four years.

Looking at the sheer awesomeness of the Democratic Party’s success this year: How does it balance out between strong candidates and having weak Republican opponents?

Look, I think this starts from two years ago when we all agreed that we had to have 33 county strategy in place. When Barack Obama became the nominee he bolstered that by agreeing that he was going to have a 50-state strategy and we had a fantastic slate of candidates and we had tens of thousands of volunteers all over the state. I think our ground game was something the Republicans didn’t even get close to matching. I think all that plays into the quality of our success.

If you were a Republican, what would was the one thing that you would definitely have had to differently this time around.

I couldn’t even imagine being Republican, I’m sorry.

They’re just that different, huh?

[Laughing] Exactly.

This coming year, with the legislature and everything, are we looking at Democratic domination or are we looking at partnership?

We’re very fortunate the voters spoke very clearly and said that they wanted change in our federal delegation. They gave us an entire blue state. They also affirmed the fact that they want Democratic leadership in the legislature. We increased our Senate margins by probably three seats, we increased our margins in the House by three seats. Our Democratic judicial candidates were affirmed and elected. In Bernalillo County we had a Democrat versus a Republican on the ballot. Our Democrat was chosen by the voters of Bernalillo County. I think the people of New Mexico have spoken and what they’ve said is that they believe the Democrats are far better suited to lead than the Republicans. They were not insistent on another four years of the failed policies of the Bush administration.

What happens if Sen. Jeff Bingaman is tapped for Obama’s cabinet?

I’m not going to speculate on what’s going to happen there. I know that Sen. Bingaman has said he’s not interested in serving as Secretary of Energy. And I know he knows how he is best suited to serve the state of New Mexico and the county and he’ll do what’s right for that.

We would lose all seniority in Congress and the Senate if he went. I imagine that would be a mixed bag.

He is a jewel no matter where he is, whether it’s in the administration or whether he continues to serve in the Senate, which is what I expect him to do, he’s going to be serving New Mexicans and our country well.

Let me ask you: Would you make a good Lieutenant Governor?

[chuckle] First of all, you’ve got to get to the first step which is our governor accepting a position in the cabinet, which he’d be another asset to the Obama administration. My focus is making sure that we close the deal on the Democrats we elected a few days ago. We’ve got a couple close races that we’ve got to watch the canvass and the recount and that’s what I’m focused on right now.

But, in the event, do you think you’d make a good Lieutenant Governor?

There are a lots of great Democrats out there that would serve the state well. I think the people of New Mexico will be well served by the Democratic party.

Well, I think I would be a horrible Lieutenant Governor.

You’re taking your name out of it!

I understand there’s talk of Hector Balderas taking cover and after that people are talking about putting me in the State Auditor’s position. That’s just not going to happen.

You’re not interested in the auditor’s office??

Nope. But seriously, I’m hearing that so many people who’ve worked really hard this election season are looking at new jobs, talking about moving to DC–what are you looking at now that you’ve delivered New Mexico? What are your future ambitions.

First of all, there are a lot of things to be credit for us being able to deliver New Mexico. We had a great slate of candidate, we had thousands of volunteers all over the state. I couldn’t be more grateful both to our candidates and our volunteers for working together in unprecedented ways. There is some great statistical observations that one can make that are just so night and day from four years ago. We had 40 offices open in all 33 counties, we had tens of thousands of volunteers, the presidential nominee came and put his resources on the ground a hundred days before the election. There’s just so many things that were really starkly different. Me being chair was just one of those very small things, but it was very much a collective effort. I’m grateful for all the volunteers, the staff and the candidates for doing a great job. What was your question?

I was just asking what you were looking forward to in the future?

It’s unclear. I really have been focused on the election and I’ve got to focus on these canvasses. I’m focused on making sure that we continue to move in the direction that the people have asked for, which is far different than what he had the last four years.

So, that’s an ‘I’m not ruling out public office?’ Is that what that is?

Yeah, I would adopt the statement that I’m not ruling out public office, but I really am focused on making sure we put everything in place so that the Democrats can lead.

I was watching Countdown’s election wrap-up the other day and I saw you up on the screen again. That was one of the images they pulled from the convention: you, with Brad Hyau behind you, passing to New York. What was your favorite moment of this election?

Golly… There were a lot of great moments. I guess one of my favorite moments was when I was in Invesco Field and I was there with my wife and son as we listened to Sen. Obama accept the nomination to be president of the United States. I think that was a big deal for me. 85,000 people is a lot of people. For me to be able to be there with my wife and my 10-year-old son, that was probably the best.

I guess all the cigars you bought, those were worth it?

[Laughing] It was all worth it. The sacrifices I made, the sacrifies my family made, frankly the sacrifices my law firm has made was all worth it.

Anything you wish you could do differently?

The only thing is, it’s difficult to express appropriate gratitude when you have literally tens of thousands of people volunteering. Just to give you some perspective that I’m not just making this stuff up: we had literally 10,000 volunteers in Bernalillo County. That’s unbelievable. I don’t know even know what the final number was. I know for early and absentee voting we had 200,000 people vote, so then probably another 150,000 voted on election day. 10,000 people in Bernalillo County and I got 33 counties, so it’s hard to make sure that you give credit where credit’s due and express appropriate gratitude for the people who put their blood, sweat and tears into this eleciton.

That sounds kinda like the, “Yeah, if I had one flaw, I might just be a little too awesome.”

[Laugh] I have never been on the record saying that.

No, that was Barack Obama during the roast a few weeks back.

That’s right, the one for the Catholic Church. I remember that. You know, look, my term as chair has provided me an opportunity to be humbled, proud and it’s had its high and lows. Really, it’s been very rewarding.

The papers today have stories about the whole straight-party voting issue? Do you have an opinion on whether we should abolish straight-party voitng?

Oh my goodness! Straight party voting has been in place since 1912. Who said that?

Steve Terrell has a good piece about it, mostly related to this Jerome Block Jr. issue.

I haven’t seen Steve’s piece. There’s always been straight-party voting since I’ve been voting, which is only 20 years, if somebody gets up and says they want to change the direction of the country and the direction of state by voting democrat all the way down the ticket, that’s a great thing.

Well, thanks. This will probably be a slightly more uncomfortable conversation when I speak to Republican chair Weh.

Let me say this, since you’re going to call Chairman Weh. Chairman Weh, from the day I was elected chair of Democratic Party, has always been a gentleman with me. I’ve always appreciated that.

So, I can’t quote you as saying ‘In yo’ face!’?

No! You know what, it’s funny. Let me tell you his first overture to me. The day I got elected chair, he literally picked up the phone,  congratulated me, gave me his cell number and said, ‘Look, if you ever hear of anything that I’m doing that you feel is inappropriate and not forthright, here’s my cell number, pick up the phone and call me on it.’ OUr relationship has been a very good one. We’ve had some fun during the election process, texting one another back and forth–

With ‘In yo’ face!” text messages?

‘Are we having fun, yet?’ Those kind of text messages. He’s an interesting guy. He’s served our country in the military and should be commended for serving our country now.

One thing that you couldn’t help but notice is that New Mexico made the national news several times with some seriously offensive remarks made by Republicans. Do you think the Republican Party handled this stuff appropriately?

You know, I tried to let the Republican do their politics in terms of their statements. I certainly made my statements to the press about what I thought about it. Chairman Weh wasted no time expressing his shock and displeasure with those statements and I thought that was appropriate. Had I been in his shoes, I’m sure I would have done pretty much the same thing.