Roundhouse Round-up: Down on the Farm

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican,

Senate Democrat Leader Manny Aragon of Albuquerque has been known to make jokes about farmers. During this session he had a little fun on the Senate floor at the expense of Senate Bill 108.

Introduced by his colleague, Senate Democratic Whip Mary Jane Garcia of Doña Ana, the legislation calls for $150,000 for a marketing plan for "socially disadvantaged farmers."

A few days later, Aragon introduced his own bill to help the farmer.

SB 477 would appropriate $100,000 from the general fund to the state Office of Cultural Affairs "to provide for instruction in manners, dancing and attire for the socially disadvantaged farmers of the state."

In the spirit of bipartisan lampoonery, Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales -- himself a farmer, though he doesn't appear to be "socially disadvantaged" -- signed on to Aragon's bill as a co-sponsor.

The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau didn't seem overly concerned about Aragon's bill.

"We appreciate Senators Ingle and Aragon for thinking of those in agriculture, as they are sometimes overlooked in urban areas," said the bureau's director of communications, Erik Ness. "However our demographic research shows that most farmers and ranchers are well-groomed, college-educated professionals with impeccable manners and a firm grasp on the mechanics of the two-step and jitterbug."

For the record, there's actually a federal Office of Minority and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Assistance. I don't think they teach dancing.

Aragon's bill was assigned to three committees and hasn't been heard anywhere yet, so don't expect it to get very far. Garcia's bill got the same number of committee assignments, but it sailed through the first two and now awaits action in the Senate Finance Committee.

Break a leg, Joe: Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Albuquerque, was trying to put a positive spin on the fact that House Republican Whip Joe Thompson broke his leg during Monday's annual House-Senate basketball game.

The game was fairly close until Thompson's injury, Youngberg said. But Thompson's loss inspired the House team to hustle, spurring them to defeat the Senate 57-38.

Maybe it was a case of "win one for Joe." Or, as one wise guy observed, maybe they just got better when Thompson wasn't playing.

A sweet pill to swallow: Walk through the Capitol Rotunda during a legislative session and you'll undoubtedly find several tables where organizations are giving away some kind of candy along with their pamphlets and literature.

But representatives of a Northern New Mexico health-care provider recently had a curious way to package their giveaway treats.

Las Clinicas del Norte offered pill bottles labeled with the clinic's name and other information. The bottles were filled with little Valentine's Day candy hearts.

I'm not sure whether the bottles had child-proof caps.

More crime

Synchronicity alert!

Soon after I posted here yesterday about the big break in the 1989 Tracy Barker case -- mentioning in passing last year's confession of David "Little Blue" Morton to the murders of Janet Benoit and Teri Mulvaney in the early 1980s -- I learned that Morton had a scheduled court hearing yesterday.

Morton pleaded guilty to both killings and got life sentences for each.

Read all about Morton HERE

And for more on the Barker case, go HERE.

On a lighter note -- so to speak -- here's a plug for an internet pal. David Hamilton, who has worked as a lighting technician on concert tours for musicians from Steve Vai to Olivia Newton John (and many many country stars) has a new web site of his own. CHECK IT OUT.

Crime Beat

For the second year in a row my work covering the state Legislature has been interrupted by police apparently cracking an old unsolved Santa Fe murder that I'd covered during my years as a crime reporter.

Yesterday I learned that a DNA test had linked Cowgirl Hall of Fame rapist Chris McClendon to the 1989 killing of Tracy Barker. READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE.

(Basic civics reminder: McClendon hasn't been charged in the Barker case, let alone tried and convicted.)

Last year -- right in the middle of the legislative session -- convicted Texas murderer and former Santa Fe resident David "Little Blue" Morton confessed to Santa Fe police that he'd killed his neighbor Teri Mulvaney in 1984 as well as Janet Benoit in 1983, Local authorities still haven't charged Morton in the Santa Fe killings. He was tried for killing Mulvaney back in the '80s but the jury was hung, voting 11 to 1 to acquit him.

I guess one could make a bad joke about the fact that my coverage of the Legislature had already been interrupted by a "mass murder" this year: John Kerry's merciless slaughter of his opponents in the New Mexico Democratic caucus last week.

Terrell's Sound World Play List

Terrell's Sound World
Sunday, February 8, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Beatles Set (all songs by The Beatles except where noted)

All My Lovin'
Til There Was You
I Want to Hold Your Hand by Al Green
Twist and Shout
Money by The Backbeat Band
Baby It's You
Slow Down
Got to Get You Into My Life by Joe Pesci
Big Show by The Royal Crescent Mob
I Saw Her Standing There
(end Beatles set)

Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen
Wedding Dress by Johnny Dowd
Mannish Boy by The Electrik Mudcats with Chuck D and Common
I Just Want to Make Love to You by Muddy Waters
Shakin' All Over by Iggy Pop
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Dirty Pool by The Replacements

Mekons Set (All Songs by The Mekons)
Teeth
The Curse
Sympathy For The Mekons
The Ballad of Sally
The Olde Trip to Jerusalem
The Flame That Killed John Wayne
Dance and Drink The Mekons
Never Been to a Riot
Now We Have the Bomb
Lonely and Wet
Men United
St. Valentine's Day
Psycho Cupid
Memphis, Egypt
Cast No Shadows
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

The Year of the Legislature?

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican

During his state of the state address last month, Gov. Bill Richardson told lawmakers, "Last year, many people thought it was the year of the governor. This year, let's make it the year of the Legislature."

With the Legislature passing its halfway point this week, it looks as if some legislators took the governor seriously -- though perhaps not the way Richardson wanted.

In contrast with the lovefest that was Richardson's first legislative session last year, this year there have been several instances of public tension between the governor and the Legislature.

Among those:
* The House voted 66-0 to override Richardson's line-item veto of the Legislative Finance Committee budget. (The governor was able to avoid an override by convincing Senate Democrats last week to go along with a compromise.)

* House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, last week accused Richardson of taking "cheap shots" at the House with the governor's criticisms of the House-approved budget.

*Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, last week accused Richardson of being abusive at meetings with lobbyists and others working on Medicaid-related bills. Several members of the House on Friday -- mainly Republicans but a handful of Democrats also -- wore orange ribbons to show solidarity with Jennings and protest Richardson's alleged behavior.

* Looming in the shadows is the specter of redistricting. Although Richardson frequently speaks about achieving bipartisan cooperation with the Legislature, this week he opened the possibility of losing any remaining goodwill with Republicans by considering redrawing the congressional district map. Richardson said his gut instinct is to not allow redistricting on the agenda, though he did meet Friday with redistricting expert Brian Sanderoff.

Some say that not too much should be made over the eruptions between the governor and the legislators.

And nobody's saying the tensions have boiled over into overt hostilities. Just two days after Luján's comments about Richardson's "cheap shots," the House Speaker appeared at the governor's side to announce a bill Luján is sponsoring to eliminate the tax on most grocery items.

Last week, Richardson's chief of staff, Dave Contarino, downplayed the criticisms.

"A lot of this is lost on the people of New Mexico," Contarino said. "They're focused on the governor and the Legislature working arm in arm."

Talking about the Jennings incident, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said, "I think it just shows what can happen when so much is packed into a 30-day session. Tempers are real challenged. I'm not overly alarmed. We'll work through it."

House Democratic Whip James Taylor of Albuquerque agrees that the pressures of a 30-day session leads to frustration and skirmishes.

But he also says the Legislature is showing more independence. However he said he thinks this trend started almost two years ago, during the final months of Gov. Gary Johnson's administration.

"When Gov. Johnson vetoed the budget and we called ourselves into extraordinary session to override, that act in itself showed the Legislature does indeed have constitutional rights as a branch of government and the tools to do what we have to do."

When Richardson took office in 2003, Taylor said, the Legislature "gave him quite a bit of leeway" to push his agenda.

Taylor said poor communications with the governor and his staff, plus a "my-way-or-the-highway" attitude coming from the fourth floor has made legislators reassert themselves.

"This type of communication could lead to the same type of gridlock we had with Gov. Johnson," Taylor said.

Of Richardson, Taylor said, "He's tough, he's my kind of politician."

But he added, "My job is listening to the wishes of my constituents, not the wishes of the governor."

Taylor said he's optimistic relations between the two branches of government will improve. "It's a learning process," he said.