Lt. Gov. John Sanchez (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Republican John Sanchez raised just over $100,000 for his U.S. Senate campaign in the fourth quarter of 2011. His campaign also repaid him $100,000 for a loan he had previously made.

The disclosure of the fundraising and loan repayment comes in Sanchez’s fourth-quarter finance report, which his campaign filed on Jan. 31 but hasn’t been disclosed publicly until now. Sanchez told NMPolitics.net on Thursday that he didn’t know how much he raised in the fourth quarter.

According to his finance report, Sanchez raised just under $102,000 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. He spent just over $141,000. And he repaid about half of a $200,500 loan that he made to his campaign shortly after he joined the race in May.

His campaign ended 2011 with just under $110,000 in the bank.

You can view the summary pages from Sanchez’s fourth-quarter finance report here. The full report isn’t yet available on the FEC’s website.

As NMPolitics.net reported on Thursday, Sanchez has decided to drop out of the race to replace the retiring Jeff Bingaman in the Senate. It’s a report the Sanchez campaign denies, but NMPolitics.net stands by its article. NMPolitics.net doesn’t know when Sanchez will announce his decision.

The campaign never really got off the ground. Even before NMPolitics.net’s report, many suspected that Sanchez’s campaign was coming to an end. There had been little activity on his campaign website, Facebook page or Twitter account during the last three months of 2011 and January, and he missed many GOP events the other candidates attended.

Pete Campos

New Mexico’s economy is improving, a little, and the result is that the state budget is growing, a little, for the first time in years. But this is not the time to go on a big spending spree.

Our economic recovery is still very fragile. We still have 46,000 fewer jobs in New Mexico than we had in February 2008, before the economy soured. We’ve only gained back 7,000 of the 53,000 jobs we’ve lost since our peak. Consumer sales appear strong, but probably because people are dipping into their savings to buy more, and not because they’ve gotten pay raises. And the price of natural gas, which fuels our state budget, is down from last year and at its lowest level since 2002.

So while the outlook is not as gloomy as it was, this is not the time to spend freely. It is the time to invest in education, infrastructure and local job-growth and business-expansion programs. Putting New Mexicans back to work is the best thing we can do to make lasting improvements to our economy. More jobs means more spending in local stores and less poverty all across the state — we still have one of the worst poverty rates in the nation — and that translates into more money into the state’s general fund and less demand for expensive state health care and other assistance programs.

The Legislature did a remarkably good job of balancing the state’s budget over the last several years with a combination of budget cuts and cost-savings measures, modest tax increases and prudent reliance on federal stimulus funds. Many worthy state programs suffered, which meant important services to New Mexicans were cut. But it could have been even worse.

A plan worth considering

Now that the economy is showing some signs of improvement, we can begin to restore those cuts and invest in long-term solutions. A multipoint plan is worth considering.

First, we can, and should, approve a multimillion-dollar public works package that will not only put New Mexicans back to work quickly but also help build our state’s lasting infrastructure. We’re on track to approve about $130 million in capital spending backed by severance taxes and another $299 million in a general-obligation bond package that will be submitted to voters this fall.

We must continue to work toward fully funding projects that are shovel-ready and appropriating the money necessary to clear the backlog of unfinished projects. We must pursue this effective strategy of completing unfinished projects. It is also important that higher education and government projects across New Mexico be funded. Smaller communities, like Watrous and Willard, deserve these projects, as do larger cities.

Second, we should approve targeted tax incentives to businesses that are willing to hire more New Mexicans, expand their businesses and invest in new equipment. Such tax incentives cost the state general fund, of course, so we should approve a modest package worth about $20 million, rather than some of the more expensive packages supported by others.

Third, our public education system must be strengthened so that expanding businesses continue to have a talented, skilled and motivated labor pool from which to draw workers. Linking our community college system employers from Raton to Deming would be one of the best investments we could make in the state. Our vocational education schools, which are uniquely suited to preparing New Mexicans to take jobs around the state, must have our strong support.

We must have a sound state budget

Approval of a sound state budget is the foundation for this entire plan. A budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that does not commit the state to spending more money than it can afford is critical to our economic recovery. We must continue to provide for basic services without growing government spending to an unsustainable level.

By setting aside politics, the Legislature and the governor can work together to meet the needs of the poor, improve education, assist small businesses and offer a hand to the most vulnerable and the elderly.

Campos is a Democratic state senator from Las Vegas and president of Luna Community College.

Heath Haussamen

I joined host Bob Clark on 770 KKOB-AM on Friday to talk about budget negotiations and other happenings at the Roundhouse.

You can listen to the interview here:

If the player doesn’t display, click here to download the audio file.

Steve Smothermon

A gay-rights organization plans to protest on Sunday in front of Legacy Church in Albuquerque in response to comments Pastor Steve Smothermon made recently to NMPolitics.net.

KOAT-TV in Albuquerque has the goods on the protest. Watch the station’s report by clicking here.

Smothermon was complaining to NMPolitics.net about Gov. Susana Martinez appointing a gay man to the Public Regulation Commission.

“With a governor who looked me in the eye personally and said she’s socially conservative, she believes that marriage is between one man and one woman, who said she wouldn’t espouse the homosexual agenda, I think this goes against that,” Smothermon told NMPolitics.net. “… These aren’t the people we voted for you to appoint. We voted for you to appoint people who think like we do.”

Read the full NMPolitics.net article here.

Bruce Malott

There’s a new bribery allegation related to the investment scandal that rocked the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Albuquerque Journal has the story:

“A former high-paid state investment adviser, who has admitted directing deals to benefit political players, received a $10,000 cash bribe from Anthony Correra, according to court documents filed Thursday.

“Saul Meyer, founding partner of Aldus Equity Advisors of Dallas, discussed receiving an envelope from Correra in a 2006 telephone conversation with his then-partner Matthew O’Reilly.”

A transcript of that phone conversation was filed in court Thursday as part of former Educational Retirement Board Chairman Bruce Malott’s lawsuit against Meyer, Correra and his son, and others accusing them of corruption and racketeering.

Read the full Journal article here.

This is the latest revelation in a scandal that’s been ongoing for more than two years – one that law enforcement is investigating. An audio recording that recently came out in another civil case related to the investment scandal included this quote from Saul Meyer:

“To think that Anthony (Correra) and Marc (Correra) don’t have a stranglehold over this thing is crazy. Because the governor runs this sh*t and they run the governor.”

The Correras were well-connected. Anthony was a close friend of and adviser to Richardson. His son, Marc, shared in at least $22 million in so-called “finder’s fees” paid by companies that won state investment contracts.

As for Meyer, he pleaded guilty in 2009 to felonies in New York related to an investment scandal there. In doing so, Meyer admitted to recommending ‘investments that were pushed on him by politically-connected individuals in New Mexico’ while Aldus was the investment adviser to New Mexico’s State Investment Council and Educational Retirement Board.

Richardson, of course, is apparently under investigation by at least two federal grand juries. One is focused on the investment deals.

Michelle Lujan Grisham

Last year alone there were over 400 accidents in the Paseo del Norte interchange area in Albuquerque. Since 1995, it has been a priority in this community to rebuild this interchange and bring the needed upgrades to promote public safety and reduce congestion, accidents, air pollution and, last, but not least, driver frustration.

Thanks to cooperation from city, county and state governments, this important project may become reality at last.

In these times of tight budgets and political bickering at every level of government, people become justifiably skeptical of their public officials’ ability to get anything done. However, I believe that our progress on the Paseo project demonstrates that those of us in public service can accomplish great things when we set aside our differences and work together on what matters to the community.

The rebuilding of Paseo has long presented financial challenges, as the cost of Phase I of rebuilding the Paseo Interchange is estimated at $93 million. However, last week we saw the county, the city and state each find a way to help solve this problem and pledge significant funds to this effort.

Since the county commission supported my call to pledge bond money to fund this project on Jan. 24, we have seen enormous support and positive reaction to our efforts. Now, with $50 million from the city and $30 million from the state added to the $5 million committed by my colleagues and me on the county commission, we are on the way to accomplishing our common goal and making our community safer. I hope the federal government will also share this responsibility, as I-25 is part of the national interstate system.

Improving the Paseo del Norte interchange is a win-win situation for Bernalillo County, the City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico. Not only will this address long-overdue traffic and safety issues, the re-design and construction of this interchange will have a broad, positive impact on our community. It will create many needed jobs during the design and construction phases.

Furthermore, after the necessary improvements, fewer accidents will lead to fewer injuries and fewer insurance claims. Law enforcement officers from the county and the City of Albuquerque will have more time and energy to attend to other duties.

We are so close. I salute my partners in this effort, Republicans and Democrats, at the state and local level. Without their commitment of funds, success would not be in our sights. Let’s all work together to get this across the finish line and make this happen.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, is a Bernalillo County commissioner and a candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House.

Lt. Gov. John Sanchez

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Sanchez has decided to drop out of the race; the lieutenant governor told NMPolitics.net he is a U.S. Senate candidate ‘as of today’

Republican John Sanchez has decided to drop out of the race to replace the retiring Jeff Bingaman in the U.S. Senate, NMPolitics.net has learned.

And while a spokesman said today that Sanchez has “no interest” in running for the First Congressional District seat being vacated by Democrat Martin Heinrich, who is running instead for Bingaman’s Senate seat, Sanchez was less clear in an interview with NMPolitics.net.

Sanchez didn’t confirm that he’s dropping out of the Senate race during the interview, but a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Sanchez has made that decision.

Heather Wilson was the frontrunner in the GOP Senate primary already and remains in that position with Sanchez’s departure. But his exit from the race may create an opening for the other Republican candidate, Greg Sowards, who had been battling with Sanchez for anti-Wilson support and has stepped up his attacks on Wilson lately.

During his interview with NMPolitics.net, Sanchez sounded at times as though he intends to stay in the Senate race. For example, he said his campaign team is “preparing for the conventions and then obviously the final stretch in the spring.”

But instead of directly answering when asked if he would “swear” that he’s “not dropping out of the Senate race,” Sanchez, the state’s lieutenant governor, said this:

“I can tell you as of today I am a candidate for the United States Senate.”

“That sounds evasive,” NMPolitics.net replied. Sanchez went on:

“And I can tell you that I am not a candidate, though, for CD1.”

So, NMPolitics.net asked, even if you drop out of the Senate race, you definitely won’t run for the U.S. House?

“I am not a candidate for CD1,” he said again before ending the interview.

You can listen to portions of the interview here:

If the player doesn’t display, click here to download the audio file.

Campaign never got off the ground

NMPolitics.net does not know when Sanchez plans to announce his decision to leave the Senate race. He has been looking for a way to minimize the embarrassment of his botched campaign, the source said.

But candidates for the Senate seat must officially file on Feb. 14, so Sanchez will likely announce his decision on or before that date.

For Sanchez, the decision to drop out is an admission that the Senate campaign he launched in May never got off the ground. The last poll of the primary race, released in December, found 55 percent of Republican voters pledging support for Wilson, while Sanchez had the support of 20 percent and Sowards had 6 percent.

Some thought national money would pour into Sanchez’s campaign because of anti-Wilson sentiment among many right-wing Republicans, but it hasn’t happened. Sanchez’s last publicly released finance report had him raising $164,000 in the third quarter of 2011 and ending it with $250,000 on hand.

That compared with Wilson raising $530,000 in that quarter and ending it with more than $950,000 on hand, and Sowards raising $231,000 – much of it from himself – and ending it with $496,000 in the bank.

End-of-the-year finance reports, which were due by Jan. 31, might have put Sanchez in an even tougher position. Wilson ended 2011 with about $1.1 million in the bank, and Sowards, who has largely self-financed his campaign, ended with more than $600,000.

Sanchez’s end-of-the-year report isn’t yet available from the Federal Election Commission, and a Sanchez spokesman hasn’t responded to an e-mail request for fundraising numbers. Asked today how much he raised in the fourth quarter of 2011, Sanchez told NMPolitics.net he didn’t know. He said he had been busy with the ongoing legislative session in Santa Fe, but pledged to provide a copy of his report once it becomes public.

Little activity for months

Many have suspected for months that Sanchez’s Senate campaign was coming to an end. One of his last highly visible announcements was an endorsement in late September from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Since then, there’s been little activity on Sanchez’s campaign website, Facebook page or Twitter account.

NMPolitics.net has also learned that Sanchez has missed many GOP events that Wilson and Sowards attended in recent months, including one held Jan. 28 in San Miguel County. Sanchez did attend a right-to-life forum on Jan. 12.

Sanchez’s run may have been hampered from the start by his less-than-stellar relationship with Gov. Susana Martinez. When Sanchez joined the race in May, Martinez said she would not give him any responsibilities in her administration beyond those granted by the Constitution. She said that was in an effort to keep the race “from becoming a distraction.”

Two days later, Martinez joined Wilson for her address to an economic forum in Albuquerque. Many interpreted that as an implicit endorsement.

What about CD1?

The Albuquerque Journal was the first to report today on rumors about Sanchez joining the First Congressional District race, quoting a campaign operative as confirming that some were encouraging Sanchez to seek the House seat.

“I have heard that,” the Journal quoted Manuel Gonzales, political director for Sanchez’s Senate campaign, as saying. “When Jon Barela announced he was not going to run in CD1, that started people talking and chattering. We’ve had some informal conversations about it.”

He added that he doesn’t believe Sanchez will join the House race.

Barela was the party’s 2010 nominee for the House seat and recently decided against running again this year. That leaves GOP primary voters to choose between three candidates many aren’t happy with – former State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis and Army veteran Gary Smith.

After the Albuquerque Journal published its report, Sanchez spokesman Corbin Casteel was quoted by the National Journal as saying Sanchez “has no interest in running for Congress.”

Later, when asked by NMPolitics.net about the possibility of joining the CD1 race, Sanchez didn’t say he won’t become a CD1 candidate. He simply said he’s not one right now.

“I am not a candidate for CD1,” he said. “I want to make that very clear.”

Sanchez doesn’t have to give up his job as lieutenant governor to run for other offices. The seat isn’t up for election until 2014.

Hanna Skandera

According to one report, New Mexico loses 71 students every school day. We cannot maintain the status quo – it’s not working.

The passion for truly educating our children in New Mexico goes without question. I know this is true, despite our current ranking (48th in the nation).

So it’s now time to take notice of our failing school system, examine the opportunities for positive change and give our public education system the chance to live up to its potential. And it’s time for our parents, our communities and our legislators to embrace the reforms necessary to make it so.

In the past year I have visited nearly 50 of our 89 school districts. I have heard the resounding voices of adults and children – all eager to see our schools and students succeed. With each visit to every school, and in every classroom, I have witnessed the optimism, desire and hope on the faces of every student across the state. Our students, educators and parents deserve to be recognized for their continued trust in our public school system and deserve to realize true progress as a result of their faith.

There is no magic solution to our current status, but there are a few key initiatives that will have a lasting impact on our students’ futures. Two bills before the Legislature right now will, when passed, dramatically and positively impact our students.

Two important initiatives

Bills to assess and advance reading proficiency (House Bill 69 and Senate Bill 96) are being considered by our legislators. The news media calls this initiative the “No Social Promotion” bill and while, yes, 3rd grade retention is part of it, that label demeans the bill’s true purpose and character. This initiative would, for the first time, gauge the reading skills of our children from Kindergarten through the 3rd grade, something many schools don’t do now. This provides us – parents, teachers, administrators – the opportunity to help our children with progressive reading interventions years before they reach the 3rd grade.

We have proposed $17 million for this program. While this may seem like a large sum, the cost is insignificant in comparison to the cost to our children and their future if we fail to intervene on their behalves now. Only if they learn to read will our children have the chance to excel in subjects like math, science and social studies, and be empowered in all aspects of their lives. We know if a child can’t read by the end of 3rd grade, they are four times more likely to drop out of school.

The second initiative now before the Legislature would re-design the system for evaluating our teachers and principals. We need to identify our greatest teachers, celebrate them and, yes, pay them more. New Mexico’s current teacher evaluation system places nearly zero weight on student performance, which means that those teachers working miracles in our classrooms receive no credit for their heroic efforts.

New Mexico teachers can reach the ceiling for pay in just seven years based only on years of experience and number of college degrees – not how successful they are in teaching our kids. Our teachers deserve the satisfaction of being rewarded for their efforts. If a teacher continues to demonstrate excellence through improved student achievement, then she or he deserves a system that continues to reward those strides.

We all should expect, and our children deserve, an evaluation that ensures our students are learning and excelling.

We cannot maintain the status quo

According to the 2011 Diplomas Count report, New Mexico loses 71 students every school day. When we say “lost,” we mean these students will fail to graduate with a diploma. These children are our loved ones, our neighbors, our future, and ultimately our responsibility. We cannot maintain the status quo – it’s not working. If we’re going to push education forward in New Mexico, we’re going to need to speak up for these reforms.

If these ideas sound like the kind of reform you want for our children, I urge you to join us. Please e-mail us at school.success@state.nm.us and we’ll keep you updated on opportunities to support these initiatives. And please don’t hesitate to call your legislator!

I love this Land of Enchantment because of its rich culture, history and passionate people. These three factors play an enormous role in our education system. Let’s make sure we continue to honor the diversity of our state, learn from our history and move forward with real change for our children.

Skandera is the secretary-designate for the N.M. Public Education Department.

Heath Haussamen

As long as lawmakers refuse to webcast and archive all their proceedings, the governor and others will do it for them. And those others will be champions of open government, while legislators will continue to look like they have something to hide.

I’m really tired of senators who refuse to webcast their own proceedings complaining about the governor doing it.

Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, complained this week that Gov. Susana Martinez’s webcasting is intended to “catch us for political purpose,” the Albuquerque Journal reported.

And Sen. Linda Lopez, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, said, “in addition to transparency, most of it will be used for campaigning, and we all know that.”

The governor started out last year assigning one employee to webcasting. That employee was stretched thin simply catching pieces of hearings that focused on the governor’s agenda.

Martinez has dramatically expanded her office’s webcasting this year. Two employees and an intern are pointing cameras at every hearing they can attend and posting everything they film online. The video is archived. Markers placed in the video help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

It’s an impressive and incredibly useful service that you can find here.

By contrast, the Senate still isn’t webcasting committee meetings. Thank goodness the governor is doing it, or New Mexicans who can’t travel to Santa Fe would have no access to critical hearings on important legislation.

Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, is sponsoring legislation this session that would require audio and video webcasting of Senate committees. That would bring the Senate up to the level of webcasting already in place in the House.

But if the Senate follows past precedent, Feldman’s resolution is headed for the trash heap. If the comments from Jennings and Lopez are any indication, they haven’t changed their tunes.

Technology gives people better access

The most egregious aspect of all of this is that lawmakers like Jennings and Lopez appear more concerned about politics than making government accessible to their constituents. Both represent districts outside Santa Fe, where those who voted for them may not be able to travel to the Roundhouse.

Do they care? If they do, they should support expanded webcasting.

In fact, the entire Legislature still falls short in this area. The House may webcast everything, but it doesn’t archive. You watch it live or you don’t watch it at all.

Most hearings take place during hours when most people are at work and can’t watch.

That’s why the governor’s webcasting is so useful. People can watch live or they can come back to it when they have time. People can watch an entire hearing or, using the markers Martinez’s staff has placed in the video, they can find the discussion of a specific piece of legislation or other issue and skip right to that.

That is a true use of technology to give people better access to their so-called “citizen” Legislature, which some would say is not all that citizen-friendly.

Anyone can use the video

Of course Martinez could use the video for campaigning. The video is in the public domain and anyone can use it.

That means lawmakers who are being filmed could pull some of their best moments out of the governor’s video and use it on the campaign trail. Political committees on the left and right could pull moments out of the video to campaign for or against lawmakers or issues. Challengers could use it to attack incumbents.

But even the legislative webcasting can be used for such purposes, despite the bogus disclaimer below the livefeed that political use is “prohibited.”

That’s called life in the 21st Century. There are cameras around you, be they official webcasting cameras in the backs of the House and Senate chambers or smartphones in people’s hands. That video can end up on the Internet.

It might be used against lawmakers, but they can also use it to promote themselves.

Embrace reality

I know that many of our lawmakers have a difficult time grasping this new reality and don’t want to change. But that isn’t an option.

Lawmakers need to embrace the fact that we live in the 21st Century. If they webcast every hearing themselves and archived the video, does anyone think the governor would continue spending her limited resources to duplicate their work? I don’t. I believe she’s doing this because they aren’t.

And she’s earning a reputation as a populist who is bringing government to the people in the process.

It’s telling that, on Wednesday, the progressive blog Clearly New Mexico, a project of the left-leaning Center for Civic Policy, promoted the governor’s webcasting of a hearing in a liveblog about that hearing. In spite of their differing views on the corporate tax bill being discussed, Republican governor and progressive nonprofit came together to bring transparency to a committee hearing that otherwise would have been off limits to anyone outside the Roundhouse.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a about transparency, accessibility and accountability. As long as senators like Jennings and Lopez complain about webcasting, I can only assume they don’t want their constituents to know what they’re doing in Santa Fe.

What the senators need to do is quit whining and pass Feldman’s resolution. Then the Senate and House should pass resolutions implementing archiving of all webcasting.

As long as lawmakers refuse to webcast and archive all their proceedings, the governor and others will do it for them. And those others will be champions of open government, while legislators will continue to look like they have something to hide.

Haussamen bio │ Commentary archives │ Feed

Senate Bill 9, sponsored by Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, now heads to the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation would reduce overall corporate income tax rates while closing a loophole that allows out-of-state corporations doing business in New Mexico to avoid paying state income taxes.

Clearly New Mexico’s Matt Reichbach liveblogged today’s hearing. Read the archive here: