ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 22, 2006


The silence was screaming.

Last Friday, the buzz was out that J.R. Damron would be stepping down as the Republican nominee for governor. It seemed like it should have been easy enough to get someone to confirm or deny it — or perhaps to get someone to refuse to confirm or deny it, which would have been almost as good.

But it was one of those frustrating days in which nobody who knew anything about the impending move would return my phone calls. (I know at least one other reporter who went through the same thing.)

Damron, his wife, Barbara, lieutenant governor candidate Sue Wilson Beffort, state GOP chairman Allen Weh, party executive director Marta Kramer ... the list goes on.

And, not knowing he would be the one who would get the nomination, I put in a call to John Dendahl, who usually is helpful in filling me in on what’s happening with the Republican Party. But for the first time in the six years since I’ve been covering state politics, Dendahl didn’t get back to me that day.

This made me know something big was up.

Complicating matters was the fact that President Bush made an appearance in Albuquerque on Friday to help raise money for U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson’s re-election effort. Many of those I was trying to reach were there.

One might assume that one reason no Republican wanted to talk about the gubernatorial switcheroo on Friday is they didn’t want that news to compete with the coverage of the Bush visit.

However, Damron this week said the Bush visit wasn’t a consideration, at least in the discussions he’d heard.

By Saturday, the Republican Central Committee made it official. Damron was out; Dendahl was in.

Most of the people I’d called later apologized for not getting back to me. I’m still not sure why it was so important to keep this news under wrap until Saturday.

But when we get behind closed doors ... Even on Saturday, Republican honchos were determined to keep reporters in the dark until the deal was done. Moments after Damron arrived, news hounds were asked to “excuse themselves” from the room.

They closed it tighter than a conference committee at the Legislature.

“We had a little internal business,” Weh later told reporters.

Some Republicans there weren’t sure what was going on before the meeting started. Former Gov. David Cargo noted that the written agenda for the meeting said nothing about replacing the gubernatorial candidate. The action would come under “new business,” Cargo said.

Dendahl would later apologize for the move, saying he wouldn’t have closed the meeting.

Damron said he thought party leaders were worried there might be unexpected fireworks.
But back in 2003 when the central committee voted to replace Dendahl with Ramsay Gorham, the meeting was open and somehow the GOP survived.

Apparently there were no serious fights Saturday. Dendahl was nominated by acclamation. All we could hear from the outside was occasional applause. No screaming or breaking glass.

There was one almost comical moment when Cargo, ever the maverick, came out to the lobby to tell reporters Dendahl was being nominated for governor, and we should “get in there.”

We did. The reporters returned to the back of the room as Beffort was giving a speech praising her new running mate. Several committee members shot us quizzical looks. A few moments later, a young man came back and asked us to leave again.

But the room apparently was getting hot. For a while, they opened an outside door, away from the sight of reporters in the lobby. They closed those doors, however, when reporters from the Associated Press moseyed by.

Later, someone opened the door near the podium. Several reporters gathered there for a couple of minutes and heard a little more of Beffort’s speech before someone inside closed it on us.

The Cargo train: When he’s not leading reporters into meetings where they’re not welcome, Cargo is chairman of the commission that oversees the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which is owned jointly by the states of New Mexico and Colorado.

Cargo has been bragging a lot lately about the 64-mile railroad.

According to Cargo, there were 4,158 riders on the steam-powered train during the week of June 5, up from 3,285 the same week last year.

The ex-guv said he recently ribbed the current guv over his planned RailRunner Express commuter railroad. “I told him I bet more people ride my train than his,” Cargo said.

MORE ON DENDAHL/DAMRON SWITCHEROO

You can find my latest story HERE

I got a voice mail this morning from an anonymous reader who seemed angry that my stories on this political development have appeared on page one. He pointed out that Andy Lenderman's story on the drought was way back in the local section. (Then the caller got all emotional, saying, "Who gives a POOP about Dendahl??? Who gives a POOP?")

I'm pretty sure it wasn't Andy who called.

A couple of points: Reporters don't decide what goes where in the paper. Now and then I've seen stories of mine on page one that probably wouldn't have been there on busier news days. And there have been a few times I've seen stories of mine back with the hog reports and truss ads I thought should have been on page on. Every day it's a crap shoot.

But more importantly, I think there are a lot of folks out there who do "give a POOP" about this political development. If nothing else, it's one of the most unusual political moves in this state in recent memory.

If you do give a POOP, follow the link. If not, then don't. Same for the link to the drought story.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 18, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

FATHERS DAY SET
Just Like My Dad by ThaMuseMeant
Pappa Won't Leave You, Henry by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Pappa Was a Steel-Headed Man by Robbie Fulks
Dad, I'm In Jail by Was (Not Was)
Drunk Daddy by Cherry-Poppin' Daddies
Adam Raised a Cain by Bruce Springsteen

A Father and a Son by Loudon Wainwright III
My Old Man's a Fatso by The Angry Samoans
Bow Tie Daddy by The Mothers of Invention
The Farmer's Daughter by Merle Haggard
Our Patriarch by The Gourds
I Want You to Hurt Like I Do by Randy Newman
My Old Man by Jerry Jeff Walker
Last Ship Leaving by Elvis Costello


Get on the Boat by Prince
Everybody is a Star by Sly & The Family Stone with The Roots
Cloud 9 by The Temptations
Why Can't We Be Friends by War
Bunzu Sounds by Zinabu
I Like the Things About Me by The Staples Singers
St. James Infirmary by Chris Thomas King

Bad Treatment by Rev. Beat Man & The Church of Herpes
Bucket of Juice by Big Ugly Guys
Nancy Reagan's Head by Mission of Burma
Japanese Rhumba by Petty Booka
I-Yah-Hoy by Shoukichi Kina
Golden Shore by Frank Black
I Love Her, She Loves Me by NRBQ
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

ENTER DENDAHL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 18, 2006


ALBUQUERQUE — Following the abrupt withdrawal of Republican gubernatorial candidate J.R. Damron from the race, GOP leaders meeting behind closed doors Saturday named former state party chairman John Dendahl to run against incumbent Gov. Bill Richardson.

Dendahl described the nomination by the state Republican Central Committee as a “wonderful homecoming.” Three years ago, the committee ousted Dendahl as state chairman in a bitter contest.

Dendahl was nominated by acclamation, state GOP chairman Allen Weh told reporters following the meeting. He noted that many present who voted for Dendahl on Saturday had voted against him in 2003. “This party is very, very unified,” Weh said.

Damron, a Santa Fe physician and political novice, mailed a letter Friday to the secretary of state officially withdrawing from the race, Weh told reporters.

Damron, who left the meeting before reporters were allowed in, didn’t explain exactly why he decided to quit the race. One campaign staffer said the move was “100 percent voluntary.”

In recent weeks, some Republicans have complained privately that the Damron campaign had not been aggressive enough in the race against Richardson, whose poll numbers remain high and whose money-raising ability has dwarfed Damron’s.

By the first of June, the incumbent reported about $5.7 million in the bank. Damron had just over $43,000 and campaign debts totaling $120,000.

“I’ve got to start at scratch,” Dendahl said Saturday. “We have to find out whether there’s serious Republicans in this state and out of state who will help finance this campaign.”

But Dendahl said he doesn’t have to match Richardson “dollar for dollar” to run a credible campaign.

Dendahl has written a political column for The New Mexican and other newspapers in recent years. “I’m able to make terse, clear statements to clearly and concisely articulate why Bill Richardson’s approach is so bad for our state,” he said.

Dendahl, 67, headed what was then the Tourism and Economic Development Department in the 1980s under the Gov. Garrey Carruthers. He ran for the GOP nomination for governor in 1994, losing to Gary Johnson in the primary.

While Dendahl has never been afraid to take off the gloves with any political opponent, Democrats on Saturday didn’t hesitate to attack Dendahl’s nomination.

“For the Republicans to nominate a negative-campaigning partisan in a last-minute political deal strikes me as an act of desperation,” said Dave Contarino, Richardson’s chief political adviser. “A lot of right-thinking Republicans are going to scratch their heads. Dendahl has been divisive in his own party.”

One Republican at the meeting was less than enthusiastic about Dendahl. “We couldn’t have chosen a more divisive candidate,” said former Gov. David Cargo, long known as a party maverick.

In an e-mail statement, state Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim called Dendahl, “a venomous and divisive radical.”

Both Contarino and Wertheim immediately seized upon an issue that got Dendahl in trouble with his own party: drug-law reform. During the last term of Gov. Johnson’s administration, Dendahl strongly backed Johnson’s efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

On Saturday, Dendahl said he’d told state party leaders that his gubernatorial campaign would not “have the luxury of pioneering new policies” because he’ll be too focused on pointing out flaws in Richardson’s policies.

Polls in New Mexico show strong support for at least one of the ideas Dendahl backed — making marijuana legal for treating certain serious illnesses. Richardson this year endorsed a bill that would have established a state medical-marijuana program.

Though Contarino said Richardson is looking forward to “a public debate” over the issues during the campaign, he said it’s too early to say whether the governor would debate Dendahl one-on-one.

Dendahl said he first heard about Damron’s decision to withdraw early last week. Lieutenant governor candidate Sue Beffort Wilson said she only learned about it Friday.

Damron’s withdrawal comes only two weeks after he won the Republican primary. He only had a write-in opponent in the primary.

Also about two weeks ago, Damron announced he was closing his medical practice in Santa Fe. He is president of Santa Fe Radiology.

Though Damron was considered a political unknown, he’d been active in county Republican politics, serving as treasurer of the Santa Fe County GOP.

He started out the year aggressively campaigning against Richardson. Shortly after Richardson’s state-of-the-state address on the first day of the state Legislature’s session in January, Damron came to the Capitol Rotunda and gave a response, blasting Richardson for traveling too much and for increasing the governor’s staff as well as for transportation proposals including the planned spaceport and passenger-rail system.

In May, he made a speech blasting Richardson for running “the most corrupt administration in our state’s history.”

At least one of his attacks proved untrue, however. Damron recently claimed Richardson had convinced the Legislature to increase the number of days the governor could travel out of state. No such legislation ever passed.

Damron’s campaign manager Greg Graves quit in April, and no one was hired to replace him.

There appeared to be personal animosity between Damron and Richardson.

In April, Damron’s wife, Barbara, said she had been “pressured” to resign from the St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s governing board by hospital officials who feared retribution from Richardson.

According to Barbara Damron, hospital president Alex Valdez told her that her presence on the board might jeopardize state funds for St. Vincent. When asked about that statement, Valdez said, “I don’t respond to rumors.” A Richardson spokesman denied the governor forced Barbara Damron off the board.

Prior to J.R. Damron’s announcement, Graves, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, said before he left the Damron campaign in April, he advised the candidate to “think very strongly if he really wanted to do this or not.” J.R. Damron at the time said he wanted to go through with the campaign, Graves said.

Also on Saturday, the GOP chose another candidate for the state auditor’s race. Albuquerque accountant Lorenzo Garcia will replace Daniel Alvarez, who withdrew his candidacy. Garcia is up against Democrat Jeff Armijo in the general election.

XXXX

John Dendahl


Age: 67

Residence: Santa Fe

Education: Bachelor’s degree, electrical engineering, business administration, University of Colorado, 1961

Past government experience: Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism, 1988-90

Past political experience: Chairman of New Mexico Republican Party, 1995-2003; sought GOP nomination for governor, 1994

Other work: Newspaper columnist; property manager; president First National Bank of Santa Fe; real-estate developer; former chief executive officer of Eberline Instrument Co., a Santa Fe firm now known as Thermo, that manufactures radiation-measuring equipment

Civic: Former chairman of the St. John’s College board; former member of Santa Fe Opera board

Personal: Wife, Jackie Dendahl; five children, two stepchildren, nine grandchildren. Dendahl was a member of the 1960 Olympic Cross Country Ski team. His father grew up on the land where the present state Capitol now stands.

DAMRON OUT/DENDAHL IN

In an abrupt move, Republican Dr. J.R. Damron dropped out of the race for governor. The state GOP Central Committee chose former state party chairman John Dendahl to take his place.

Here's the wire story

Here's Republican blogger Whitney Cheshire's post.

Here's the official press release from the Republicans:

ALBUQUERQUE - Members of the New Mexico Republican State Central Committee voted unanimously this morning to place John Dendahl on the ballot in the race for New Mexico Governor.

At the meeting - which had been previously scheduled to deal with the withdrawal of GOP State Auditor Candidate Dan Alvarez - party activists were notified by candidate JR Damron that he was withdrawing from the race for Governor. Following Damron's announcement, John Dendahl was nominated by a member of the State Central Committee to fill newly created vacancy in this year's gubernatorial contest.

Dendahl's nomination was seconded by GOP 2nd Vice Chair Ceil Levatino from Las Cruces, New Mexico. GOP Lieutenant Governor candidate Sue Wilson Beffort also spoke in support of the nomination.

John Dendahl is a former State GOP Chairman, Secretary of Economic Development and was a candidate for Governor in 1994.

Lorenzo Garcia was nominated and approved unanimously by the State Central Committee as the replacement for withdrawn State Auditor candidate Dan Alvarez.

Here's the response from the office of Democratic incumbent Bill Richardson:

“It looks like the Republican Party has chosen a candidate who embraces division and negativity, and who is completely out of touch with what matters to most New Mexicans.” said Pahl Shipley, Communications Director for Governor Richardson. “We welcome the opportunity to hear John Dendahl explain his pro-drug legalization plan throughout the campaign."

I'll have more in Sunday's New Mexican.