NM Pop Politics

Mrs. Palin can’t name a single newspaper or magazine that she enjoys.

Don’t worry, she assures us that she’s read “most of them.”

And here’s Palin talking about her gay friend.

Liberal lefties may have already heard the news that Hutton Broadcasting (which owns KBAC, Project 101.5 and a few other local stations) is in the process of purchasing KTRC (1260 AM). No need to fret through that Hutton and crew are going to ditch favorites “Air America” or Stephanie Miller.

“People don’t need to worry that we’re going to change it. We simply thought it would be a good addition to our cluster of stations. And we thought Santa Fe needed its own talk station,” Hutton’s Scott Hutton tells SFR.

In addition to the already popular shows Hutton plans to add local news and local weekend programming.

“Eventually we will start a local talk show in the afternoon so we can debate and cover the issues that cover Santa Fe,” Hutton says.

More local media voices can’t be a bad thing for Santa Fe.

John McCain said another funny thing, practically erasing all that hard-earned name dropping he did during the first presidential debate.  It is unclear whether McCain doesn’t know if Hugo Chávez is the president of Venezuela or if he doesn’t know where Venezuela is located on that big, green and blue globe-type thingy.

In recent weeks, much has been reported about Public Regulation Commission candidate Jerome Block Jr.’s unwillingness to face his Green Party opponent Rick Lass: Block denied Lass’ debate challenges, rejected the League of Women Voters’ public forum requests and has only agreed to a single forum in front of the Chamber of Commerce on the condition that candidates not be able to address each other or even use each other’s names.

So, if Block isn’t making public appearances to appeal to voters — who, exactly, is he shmoozing with?

The Answer: the Telecom industry–the same people he’d regulate if elected.

The Los Alamos chapter of the League of Women Voters had invited Block to participate in its PRC forum on October 1, but he never responded to their requests. Instead, Block RSVP-ed to the Arizona-New Mexico Telecommunications Association’s conference (“Navigating the Peaks and Valleys”) for the same day, but far, far outside his district.

“Los Alamos citizens are a group of people who inform themselves on issues and candidates,” Los Alamos LWV acting President Christine Chandler tells SFR. “They spend time researching the candidates and he is doing himself a disservice by not attending.”

According to the agenda for the Arizona-New Mexico Telecommunications Association’s fall conference, Block will be addressing the gathering of communications corporations on October 1, right between the association’s general meeting and the announcement of the winners of the association’s golf tournament.

The event is at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino, which is owned by the Mescalero Apache tribe, which also owns Mescalero Apache Telecom Inc., which employs Block’s father Jerome Block Sr. as a government liaison. (Check out our story, “All in the family” about that conflict of interest.)

Here’s how the Arizona-New Mexico Telecommunications Association describes itself:

What an exciting time for the telecommunications industry. New opportunities, technologies, and challenges are springing up daily. The Arizona-New Mexico Telecommunications Association (ANMTA) is an organization which is dedicated to helping its members prosper in these times. ANMTA’s members represent nearly all of the telephone operating companies in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as a wealth of telecommunications suppliers and consulting companies.

Well, I guess we know now who Block considers as his constituents…Gawd, it’s an exciting time to be a telecommunications exec. Better than being an actual voter in Los Alamos, right?

No comment from the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

On Monday, Sept. 29, the long-awaited report from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General on the 2006 firings of nine US attorneys was finally released. This report has been long in coming; New Mexico’s fired US Attorney, David Iglesias, told me last year that the report could be released at any time.

Well, now it’s out, but at almost 400 pages, it’s not a quick read by any means. What does emerge clearly from the report is that Iglesias’ firing was political in nature and likely the result of New Mexico Republicans’ dissatisfaction with him, with US Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, being the main reason Iglesias ended up on the list of attorneys to be fired.

However, cooperation in the investigation was limited:

We believe we were able to ascertain with reasonable assurance that the complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about Iglesias’s handling of voter fraud and corruption cases were the reasons for his removal as U.S. Attorney. However, based upon our inability to compel the cooperation of certain witnesses and obtain White House documents, we were not able to identify the role the White House played in the decision to remove Iglesias. Nor could we uncover all the evidence regarding the role of congressional or New Mexico Republican party activists in Iglesias’s removal. As discussed above, we were not able to interview Senator Domenici, his Chief of Staff Steve Bell, Monica Goodling, and several White House officials, including Harriet Miers and Karl Rove. The White House also would not provide us internal documents related to the removals of U.S. Attorneys.

One person implicated in the scandal who was willing to participate was outgoing US Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, who responded rather quickly to the report with a letter to the DOJ, which begins with Wilson’s statement that she had already the report (to which I wonder: How? It’s 400 pages long! Guess one has more free time when one doesn’t have an election to deal with). Wilson alleges three errors in the report regarding her role in the situation. Here is exactly what she says:

1.  On page 190, paragraph five you state, “These complaints generated requests from Senator Domenici and Representative Wilson for Iglesias’s removal.” Additionally, the report contains numerous references to complaints about Iglesias made to the Department of Justice and the White House by “New Mexico Republican members of Congress.”  These references incorrectly suggest that I made such complaints to the Department or the White House.  As I told your investigators, that suggestion is categorically false.  At no time did I discuss Mr. Iglesias’s job performance with the Justice Department or the White House before the decision was apparently made to replace him.  I did not request that Mr. Iglesias be removed at any time.  This is a significant mistake in the report that should be corrected.

2.  On page 177 in the last paragraph and page 191, paragraph four you discuss an e-mail that I sent that included an Associated Press article about an FBI investigation in other states.  By omitting any discussion of the FBI inquiry that prompted my e-mail, you inaccurately conflate this matter with the U.S. Attorney case.  As I indicated in a letter to your investigators dated April 9, 2008, the email referred to leaks within the FBI concerning a completely separate matter.  Contrary to the suggestion in your report, that email message did not relate in any way to my concerns about Mr. Iglesias’ job performance.

3.  On page 185 paragraph 2, you misquote what I said to Mr. Rove after the decision had apparently been made to remove Mr. Iglesias.  I set forth the exact words I used in a letter to you dated September 26, 2007, and I repeated that quote to your investigators during my meeting with them.

Iglesias, on the other hand, hadn’t had a chance to read the entire report when I contacted him (he was at St. Anshelm’s College in New Hampshire giving a lecture and booksigning; you can click here for the podcast from Iglesias’ recent lecture as part of the College of Santa Fe’s lecture series, which The Santa Fe Reporter cosponsors), but he had read the summaries and says, via e-mail, he feels “100% vindicated now since this independent investigation has corroborated what I’ve been alleging for the past 18 months.” Iglesias also says he’s hopeful the special prosecutor will have access to the evidence previously withheld and “be able to independently assess the case.”

Iglesias still plans to ask for a formal apology from the Department of Justice.

Fellow SFR staffer Rani Molla and I had great fun playing with Speechwars last week, yet it left me hungry for more campaign season time wasters.

Thank God for the Sarah Palin Quotes Generator. The words she says here are totally made-up, yet eerily similar to vague pronouncements uttered by the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Sample quote: “I see the United States as being a force for the dealings with Freddie and Fannie — we have got to have all options out there on the table.”

Another: “I’m not one of those who feel like the impact to help shore up our economy.”

And another: “He’s also known as the maverick, building new relationships—that’s more than a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.”

It turns out that this isn’t the first time Jerome Block Jr.’s campaign manager Jonathan Valdez has had a bench warrant issued for his arrest. In 2002, Valdez was busted for driving 11-15 miles over the speeding limit. Three years later Valdez still hadn’t sorted it out and he was picked up on a Santa Fe Magistrate Court bench warrant. The county jail has the picture to prove it:

He also had a bench warrant served in 2003. You figure he would’ve learned his lesson by now.

When Jamie Lenfestey of Fan Man Productions asked me what I thought about showing the presidential debates at the Sept. 26 Michael Franti/Spearhead show, I said I thought it was a great idea (I had previously lambasted Jamie for scheduling the show the same night as the debate). I still think it was a great idea, although I’m not sure it was a super-great experience. For one thing, it wasn’t exactly the most rousing of debates, so going from that to Franti (”Jump! Jump!”) was sort of jarring. Also, the audience was a very very liberal crowd (not surprising) and, about halfway through, people began just booing every time McCain spoke. I am, personally, a pretty liberal gal myself, but I want to hear both sides, all the time, so I found all the booing pretty tedious (and then I had to watch the entire debate again, right after the show, which made for a very long evening).

Franti didn’t get too into politics during his show, except to briefly say he thought it was great that the debate was shown, and that he had also told Jamie it was fine let the Democratic Party register voters at Paolo Soleri Ampitheatre, as long as the Republican, Greens, Libertarians et. al also were invited. The crowd also cheered at this sentiment of hearing from everyone, despite having just booed through most of McCain’s responses during the debate. Anyway, here’s the video—quality not awesome, I’m still learning what the new Flip Cam can and can’t do.

Both Rep. Tom Udall, a Democrat, and Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican, were instrumental in defeating the bailout bill yesterday on the House floor. Both Congressmen, who are vying for New Mexico’s open Senate seat, released long, in-depth statements explaining their positions.

Rep. Heather Wilson voted yes on the bill, but the Republican only released a super-brief statement:

No one wanted to be in this situation today.  I felt it was important for Congress to act to stabilize our financial markets.  Today’s bill was a “work out” not a “bail out” and had protections for taxpayers and homeowners.  The bill would have given needed liquidity to the financial industry and let taxpayers share in the profits as mortgage markets recover.  The bill failed by a vote of 205-228.  I will continue to work with my colleagues to find a solution and move forward.

l guess when you’re not facing reelection you don’t need to educate your constituents on why they should pay out $700 billion to socialize the banking industry.

Today, the New Mexican reports further on the Mystery of the Green Crayon–the alleged “ransacking” of PRC candidate Jerome Block Jr.’s La Puebla home in which the suspect allegedy wrote “Spic Liar” on his wall and stole a combination of personal banking records, campaign finance statements and nominating petitions (depending on which of Block’s statements  you believe).

What the New Mex didn’t report was how the State Police report differs from statements made by Block’s campaign, specifically regarding what was stolen and how the perpetrator allegedly entered the home. Block told the press, he thinks he left the door open; the police say Block said the perpetrator used the key under the door. Block’s campaign has also backtracked on what was missing from the home, sometimes saying campaign finance reports, other times saying only personal banking files. No wonder so many Democratic politicos and media members are privately telling SFR they are very skeptical about the robbery, considering it happened in broad daylight only hours after newspapers reported that the Attorney General was involved in investigating Block’s alleged falsification of campaign-finance reports.

Has Block cried wolf one too many times with his lies?

The police report kinda speaks for itself, so here it is in full. All grammatical and typographical errors belong to the reporting officer.

On September 25, 2008 at approximately 11:00 a.m. I dispatched to El Sitio Road, HSE #16 in Espanola, New Mexico, County of Santa Fe in reference to Breaking and Entering of a resident and Grafitti. Upon arrival I made contact with Jerome Block.

I asked Mr. Block, “How can I help you?” Mr. Block stated someone broke into his house and wrote “Spik Liar” on the wall in his office. I asked Mr. Block if he could show me how access was gained into the residence. Mr. Block stated the suspect(s) entered through the front door using a spare key he keeps under the mat located in front of the front door.

I asked Mr. Block is he could show me the wall where the grafitti was located. The Graffitti (writing) was located on the wall which appeared to be hand writing and it look like it was done with a green in color crayon. I asked Mr. Block if the suspect(s) took anything. He stated, “no, if they did, it was bank statements.”

I looked around for any evidence or forced entry, but I wasn’t able to find anything. Mr. Block showed me his computer desk, which I observed papers scattered through out the desk. Mr. Block was unsure if any of his personal papers were taken. Due to the amount of scattered papers, I was unable to determine what papers were touched, therefore the papers were not collected for finger prints. There was also a gray “Laptop” on the desk, which Mr. Block stated was as he left it. I used my flashlight to cast a shadow over the “Laptop” to see if there were any finger prints. I did not locate any finger prints on the “Laptop.”

Based on my investigation and due to no evidence, suspects or witness, this case is closed. Upon any further information received, a supplemental report will follow.

Check out tomorrow’s Santa Fe Reporter for more reporting on Blockgate. (And yes, now we finally know where Block lives).