ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: A RICH HISTORY OF CORRUPTION

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 24, 2006

Listening to recent New Mexico political ads and blogosphere chatter — with all the reports of kickbacks, cronyism and special favors for campaign contributors — one might think we’re living in the sleaziest era of corruption in the history of the state.

Not even close.

A recently published book about a murder near Las Cruces 57 years ago is a sobering reminder that political corruption is nothing new here. In fact, this state has a rich tradition of official corruption and chicanery.

In many ways, the current crop of scoundrels are amateurs compared with the cast of characters in Peter R. Sandman’s Murder Near the Crosses.

This is a nonfiction account of the infamous Cricket Coogler case, the slaying of an 18-year-old Las Cruces waitress/”party girl” written by the son of a sheriff’s deputy who was part of the investigation.

As also documented in Charlie Cullin’s 2002 film The Silence of Cricket Coogler, the Coogler case wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill sex murder. A maverick grand-jury investigation and the work of a brave reporter named Walter Finley revealed the victim was a playmate of high-level politicians who frequented illegal Mafia-run gambling joints.

In the first chapter, Sandman, relying on FBI records received through the Freedom of Information Act and papers from a judge involved in the grand jury investigation, says the Cleveland mob and gangsters from Los Angeles were involved in New Mexico gambling. While the federal government never prosecuted any of the Mafia gambling interests in New Mexico, apparently the FBI kept tabs on the operations.

In Doña Ana County, Sandman wrote, Mafiosi made direct payments to Sheriff “Happy” Apodaca, a judge and a state corporation commissioner, who divided his share among politicians in Santa Fe.

Though nobody was convicted for the homicide, a state corporation commissioner was tried on morals charges for serving Coogler liquor when she was a minor and having her “in his possession for evil purposes.”

Commissioner Dan Sedillo was acquitted of those charges after the three major prosecution witnesses invoked the Fifth Amendment.

Sedillo was in the Las Cruces area the night Coogler was last seen alive. He had flown to El Paso with then Lt. Gov. Joe Montoya — later a U.S. senator. The book cites testimony from a witness who saw Montoya, Sedillo and Coogler in the same motel room hours before the killing. (Montoya, a Democrat, never was charged with any crime.)

Another Coogler-related case that went to trial was a federal civil-rights case. Sheriff Apodaca, state Police Chief Hubert Beasley and Deputy Roy Sandman were accused of torturing a black man in an attempt to get a murder confession. The three were convicted and served a year in prison.

Author Sandman has a personal ax to grind here. Roy Sandman was his father.

Pete Sandman said in a telephone interview this week that he believes his father was framed and that accounts by the torture victim, Wesley Byrd, were full of discrepancies.

The author said his father didn’t believe Byrd was guilty. Roy Sandman, who left the Sheriff’s Department to work for the district attorney shortly after Coogler’s murder, was instrumental in revealing many of the illegal-gambling connections with the case, his son said.

In 1953, when Pete Sandman was 4 years old, Roy Sandman died of a gunshot wound to his head. While law-enforcement officials called the death a suicide, a coroner’s jury only would classify his death as “gunshot wounds, causes unknown.” Pete Sandman believes his father was murdered as payback for his investigative work.

Sandman quotes a former state representative, Sixto Leyva of Santo Domingo, who in a speech on the House floor in 1951 over a bill to fund a full investigation of the Coogler case said:

“Any time any members of one party become so powerful they can dictate to the judiciary to cover up a crime, as they did in (Doña Ana) County, it is up to us as elected representatives of the people to solve that crime. ... Somebody from high up was covering up the murder of this girl. Some high official is involved in this case.”

What happened to that bill? According to Sandman’s book, it passed the House. But “it was sent to the Senate where it disappeared.”

(Murder Near the Crosses is published by Barbed Wire Publishing. A page for this book should be up soon, Sandman said.)

Blog Bonus: An Aug. 15, 1949 article about the Cricket Coogler murder can be found HERE

A little excerpt:

At 18, pretty, ignorant little Ovida ("Cricket") Coogler was a
product of New Mexico's political corruption. ... Under Happy (Apodaca) and his political friends nobody cared if a girl like Cricket ran wild. Occasionally, as a matter of fact, flashy politicos from the state capital itself came to Las Cruces and obligingly helped her get drunk.

Back to the present: A group that was indicted in 2004 on a charge of making an illegal $100,000 campaign contribution to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s political action committee is running television ads in New Mexico supporting U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care is an umbrella group for 15 for-profit members of the American Health Care Association.

The ad never suggests voting for Wilson. It just thanks her for “Fighting for New Mexico seniors. Voting to protect Medicare funding for quality nursing home care (and) standing up for New Mexico seniors.”

“Heather Wilson likes to talk about her integrity,” said Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for Wilson’s Democratic opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid. “She needs to stop talking and take action by standing up to this scandalous organization and demanding they stop spending their tainted money on ads supporting her campaign.”

Wilson spokesman Enrique Carlos Knell said Wilson has no control over third-party ads “any more than we do over the thousands of dollars spent to bash Heather Wilson in support of Patsy Madrid.”

PANEL DISCUSSION WITH ALGERIAN OFFICIALS

On Tuesday I was part of a panel -- along with state Sen. Dede Feldman and Bob Johnson, director of New Mexico Foundation for Open Government -- that met with a visiting delegation of Algerians, three women and two men that included a couple of judges, a lawyer, a diplomat and the director of an organization that aids women who are victims of violence.

The visitors wanted to learn about how New Mexico is dealing with corruption and ethics reform. But in our discussions, through French interpreters, I believe I learned more from them than they did from me.

Lawyer Khaled Bourayou -- whose clients include Algerian newspapers -- gave us a brief history of his country. Algeria won independence from France in 1962 and was a one-party socialist state until 1989 when the country adopted a new constitution. Bourayou said the official policy of Algeria now favors human rights, equality for women, free elections, freedom of press and private property rights. But the government's main problem remains its struggle with Islamic fundamentalists who want to estalish an Islamic Republic.

Although press freedom is the offical policy, Borayou said his government had to crack down on a radical Isamic paper that was calling for the overthrow of the government.

I told him here that in the U.S. many of us feel that the free expression of extremist views is considered a safety valve and that most people reject the truly crazy ideas. He argued that Algeria is such a religious society the Islamic extremists are able to manipulate the people and that the paper had to be shut down because it was a threat to freedom. He reminded me of this country's McCarthy era. I agreed that there are always those who would take our freedoms away and that you always have to be vigilant.

(Here is a recent article (from a South African site) about the Islmamic milita in Algeria linked to al Qaeda, which says the movement is in decline. Violence between the fundamentalists and the government has cost an estimated 200,000 lives since 1992.)

Mohamed Amara, a Supreme Court magistrate, asked why corruption was a problem in a country so affluent where civil servants are well paid. I answered with a line from an Elvis Presley song: "A poor man wants to be a rich man, a rich man wants to be king."

By the way, I was surprised that at least some of the Algerians were already familiar with our state treasurer scandal. New Mexico's corruption is known worldwide!

MYSTIC JUDICIAL DWARVES

My brother alerted me to this critical news story.

Filipino 'dwarf' judge loses case

A Philippines judge who said he consulted imaginary mystic dwarves has failed to convince the Supreme Court to allow him to keep his job.

Florentino Floro was appealing against a three-year inquiry which led to his removal due to incompetence and bias.

He told investigators three mystic dwarves - Armand, Luis and Angel - had helped him to carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers.

But, you know, it probably wouldn't hurt if Armand, Luis and Angel would advise some New Mexico judges ...

UPDATE: This morning I found an extremely lengthy (like 17 times larger than the original post) comment from someone claiming to be Judge Floro. I reluctantly deleted it just due to space. (For some reason the comments here appear on my blog itself, not in a separate pop-up. Blogger hasn't been able to help me. I've got to do something about that.)

Most of the comment was repetitive recapping of the news story from various sources and comments of support from others. Here is a link to Judge Floro's blog, where some of those comments seem to come from. Again, I can't vouch for the authenticity, but it's pretty interesting. I'll save the original comment so if anyone wants to see the whole thing, e-mail me.

FROGFEST DAY 2

All my Frogfest Photos are HERE.

Right as I was about to leave the second day of Frogfest Sunday night, John Treadwell (Dear Leader and president-for-life of Frogville Records ) came up and said to me, "Well, are you going to tell Santa Fe what a great show they missed?"

I guess I'm doing that now.

Frogfest was loads of fun for those of us who went. To those who didn't: You shoulda been there ... No way around it, the turnout was disappointing. Probably the weather scared off many. Then, it was Indian Market, which traditionally is a weekend when many locals leave town. (And Saturday night there was the Native Roots & Rhythms concert at Paolo Soelri, which I heard also suffered from the rain).

Sometimes it seemed that the camera crews nearly outnumbered the audience. Not only was the L.A. Filmmakers Cooperative there (they'd been camped out at Treadwell's place for a few days), but local filmmaker Lexie Shabel had a crew there. A couple of years ago Lexie did a short documentary called VFWya, which was about the scene that spawned Frogville. I did an on-camera convesation with her about the meaning of it all.

Anywho, I've said it for years: Santa Fe has a lot more good musicians than it deserves. We're lucky to have a Frogville and Frogfest. Consider this a wag of the finger, you sunshine music scenesters!

I have to confess, I was pretty much towed away myself after Saturday's Frogfest spectacular. I didn't drag my fat ass to the Santa Fe Brewing Company until just before 2 p.m. Upon arrival my friend Bruce chided me about missing the first act. "You missed Toast!" I felt like saying "I AM toast."

For the most part I planted myself in the KSFR booth for the first part of the day, wandering up to the stage every now and then to catch Nathan Moore's set and the Texas Saphires (who do a great honky tonk version of X's "The New World.")

I didn't really come to life until about the time Goshen came on stage. Grant Hyunga, backed by The Brothers Palmer did his hopped-up Hounddog-Taylor-on-Angel-Dust tribal stomp, grating and hypnotic at the same time. It was wonderfully invigorating.

After this, two of Frogville's finest -- Nathan Moore and Joe West -- did a battle of the singer-songwriters, passing a single guitar back and forth.

James McMurty was the headliner. He was the only national name on the bill. Unfortunately I had to leave to do my radio show before he finished, but at least I got to snap a couple of pictures and hear him do "60 Acres," "Can't Make It Here" and my favorite, "Choctaw Bingo" before I had to leave.

Even though the turnout was disappointing, some of the Frogville folks already are talking about next year. Sure hope they follow through.

Now only two weeks til Thirsty Ear!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 20, 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
Teenage Prostitute by Frank Zappa
Undercover of the Night by The Rolling Stones
Little Tease by Goshen
Contort Yourself by James Chance
The League of Bald-Headed Men by The Fall
Sheela na Gig by P.J. Harvey
Ten Commandments by Hellwood

I Love You Still by Hundred Year Flood
Cartwheels by Patti Smith
In Total Focus by Drywall
Blue Skies by Terry Adams and Marshall Allen
Things We Like To Do by NRBQ
Man About Town by Tony Gilkyson
Just a Gigolo by Bing Crosby

Milkcow Blues by Dead Moon
Sister Midnight by Iggy Pop
Snake in the Radio by Mark Pickerel
Skip to the End by The Futureheads
The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu
Wildcat by Pretty Girls Make Graves
Hands by The Racontuers
KKK by The BusBoys

Thing of Beauty by Hothouse Flowers
Hibernation Statement by Redneck Manifesto
Summer Jazz by The Electric Ghosts
Eve of Destruction by P.F. Sloan with Frank Black and Buddy Miller
Inside Job by Pearl Jam
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

FROGFEST DAY 1

I'm too exhausted to to into much detail about the first day of Frogfest. (And Day 2 is still before me) I think I'll let my photos do most of the talking.

But it indeed was a blast and a half. I was manning the KSFR booth for most of the day, but it wasn't hard to catch the music. (After the rain moved the festival inside the Santa Fe Brewing Company for a couple of hours Saturday evening, we gave up on the booth for the day.)

Hundred Year Flood did a surprisingly strong set especially considering the steady drizzle at the beginning of their performance. It climaxed with the appearance of a trio of fire dancers who provided a hell of a ligth show.

Joe West got back from England Saturday night, but jet lag didn't hinder his set with The Santa Fe All Stars (Sharon Gilchrist, Ben Wright and Susan Hyde Holmes).

I'd never seen Boris McCutcheon live before, but it was worth the wait to see Boris & The Saltlicks. ("Caves of Burgundy" was the highlight.)

And though I'd never actually seen Percy Boyd, I'd seen all the musicians before (Nathan Moore of ThaMuseMeant, most of Hundred Year Flood and steel guitarist Augie Hayes.)

There were old favorites like Bill Hearne and Jono Manson, and some bitchen neo-honky-tonk from Dave Insley & The careless Smokers.

One of my favorite moments was a relatively quiet one. Blind James, a singer who reminds me a little bit of Michael Hurley, was doing his set inside the Brewing Company singing his song "On the Banks of The Rio Grande." When he got to the chorus, from behind me came a heavenly chorus -- surround sound! It was members of Hundred Year Flood singing harmony parts. Lord it was fine.

Check ot my Frogfest photos.




Speaking of Hundred Year Flood, check out this You Tube video.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, August 18, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Rainy Day Woman by Waylon Jennings
1,000,002 Songs by The Sadies with Kelly Hogan
Mother Hubbard's Blues by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Where Were You When I Needed You by P.F. Sloan with Felix Caveliere
Bible Black Starless Sky by Andy Fairweather Low
Party Lights by Junior Brown
Inman's Liquid Gold by Raising Cane
Love Minus Zero No Limit by Doug Spartz
Silver Threads and Golden Needles by Linda Rondstadt

My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
Between the Cracks by Dave Alvin
Magic Girl by Chip Taylor
Oklahoma Hills by James Talley
I'll Wait by Mark Pickerel
'50s French Movie by Carrie Rodriguez
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat by Stringbean


Frogfest Set
El Presidente by Goshen
Caves of Burgandy by Boris & The Saltlicks
Red Wine in the Afternoon by Jono Manson
Love Reunited by Bill Hearne
$2,000 Navajo Rug by Joe West & The Sinners
Sixty Acres by James McMurty
South of the Border by Dave Insley with Rosie Flores
Don't Go by Hundred Year Flood
Safe by ThaMuseMeant

Where Is My Mind by Bobby Bare, Jr.
If Your Posion Gets You by Frank Black
Man of God by Triobite
Tabitha by Ed Pettersen
Columbus Stockade by Rolf Cahn & Eric Von Schmidt
Treat Each Other Right by Greg Brown
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT I'M THE STEVE OF DESTRUCTION

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

In the late summer of 1965, coming back from a vacation in Santa Fe, a haunting, jangly song came over the car radio. The singer sounded like some gruff old drunk, but his words would twist my 11-year-old head off.

“The eastern world it is explodin’/violence flarin’, bullets loadin’/you’re old enough to kill but not for votin’.” By the time he got to the part about hating your next-door neighbor (“but don’t forget to say grace”), I was definitely looking at the radio in a much different way — and probably the whole world.

The song, of course, was Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction.” It was written by a guy named P.F. Sloan, 20 years old at the time. Sloan was a Los Angeles studio regular who wrote or co-wrote dozens of hits, most notably “Secret Agent Man.” He also penned tunes for The Turtles, The Grass Roots, Herman’s Hermits, and Jan and Dean — including one of my obscure favorites, “(Here They Come) From All Over the World,” the theme song from The TAMI Show, a long-out-of-print concert movie that featured James Brown, The Rolling Stones, and others.

I’m not quite sure what Sloan’s been doing for the past 40 years or so, but he’s just come out with this dandy new solo album, to be released Tuesday, Aug. 22. Sailover includes new songs as well as old, and a slew of guest stars.

I have to confess I like the old songs best. Lucinda Williams helps out on “The Sins of the Family (Fall on the Daughter),” a jaunty little poverty protest that was a minor hit for Sloan in the mid-’60s. Old Rascal Felix Cavaliere sings on Sloan’s Grass Roots hit, “Where Were You When I Needed You,” which sounds even better than the original. And Frank Black pitches in on an obscure Sloan tune “Halloween Mary,” a folk-rocky put-down song.

And yes, there’s “Eve of Destruction,” in which Sloan, Black, and country-rocker Buddy Miller trade verses. Most of the lyrics are still intact (there’s still all that hate in Red China and Selma, Ala.), though Sloan throws a new line “and money corrupts the value of elections” into the “blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’ ” verse.

The sad part, of course, is how relevant this song still is. I just wish it could get played on commercial radio as much as it was back in 1965 so it could make its imprint on today’s young minds as it did on mine.


Also recommended:

* Goodbye Guitar by Tony Gilkyson. I’ve written before that solo albums by sidemen only prove that most sidemen deserve to remain sidemen. But this album proves there are major exceptions to that rule.

Gilkyson, a former Santa Fean, has been a side musician for most of his career. He took Billy Zoom’s place as the lead guitarist in X. He was a member of the 1980s country rock band Lone Justice. He was the major dude behind Chuck E. Weiss’ band, The G-d Damn Liars, and co-produced two underrated Weiss albums. He played on and produced Eleni Mandell’s best album, Country for True Lovers. And he’s backed his sister, the well-known Eliza Gilkyson.

But forget all that resume stuff. Goodbye Guitar shows that Gilkyson should be considered an artist in his own right.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that all 11 songs on this album are winners.

There’s some outright honky-tonkers like “Wilton Bridge,” “Worthless,” and “Old Cracked Looking Glass” (the latter written by Woody Guthrie), some decent rootsy rockers like “Mojave High” and “Donut and a Dream,” and a good hillbilly stomp in the title cut.

There’s the Euro-noirish “Man About Town,” featuring a sinister French accordion by Van Dyke Parks and background vocals by sister Eliza. Written by his late father, Terry Gilkyson, the lyrics (“Each night a new love, never a true love,”) evoke the same sad spirit as Bing Crosby’s version of “Just a Gigolo.”

But best of all is “My Eyes,” a soulful dirge of self-loathing. “My eyes have seen some glory, diamonds in the rough/but looking in the mirror is getting mighty tough ... my back is bent, my hair is gray, but the worst thing I despise are my eyes,” Gilkyson moans. There’s a pump organ and a ragged-but-right horn section.

I don’t care what he says. Anyone who makes an album like this should be proud to look in the mirror.

* Snake in the Radio by Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands. Like Gilkyson, Pickerel’s mainly been a sideman and behind-the-scenes guy. He was the drummer in the classic Seattle group The Screaming Trees and, briefly, with Nirvana.


His first solo record is on Bloodshot Records, the “insurgent country” label.

Although there are some countryish tunes here (“I’ll Wait,” “Don’t Look Back”), the most interesting tracks go in different directions.

The garage stomp “A Town Too Fast for Your Blues” is tailor-made for a cover by Dead Moon. The mournful “Ask the Wind, Ask the Dust” sounds like something from fellow ex-Tree Mark Lannegan’s song book, as does the electronica-tinged title song, another slow burner.

But Pickerel saved the best for the first. The ultra-hooky opening track, “Forest Fire,” just has to be a huge radio hit in some paralniverse. Plus it has the funniest line in the whole album: “I’m sorry ’bout your turquoise bracelet/In the morning I’ll replace it.”

SOME UPDATES

Democratic Land Commissioner candidate Jim Baca responds to my column about Mario Burgos' campaign-finance blog:

I challenge Pat Lyons to put his campaign donations on line with Burgos. I will do it if he agrees. It wouldn’t make sense to do it unilaterally, but I will do it. Will He?

I dunno. How about it, Pat?

State Rep. Brian Moore, R-Clayton, has become the second candidate to sign up on Ethical Reporting.

Meanwhile, please note Sheriff Greg Solano's comment on a Wednesday post about Jeffrey Epstein. He's decided to donate his $2,000 contribution to two charities -- $1000 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving and $1000 to Challenge New Mexico.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: REAL-TIME CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 17, 2006

If you want to know who is giving how much money to what politicians in New Mexico races during most of the summer and early fall, you’re pretty much out of luck.

The way state campaign laws are set up, candidates for state and county offices don’t file any financial-disclosure reports between July 6 and Oct. 9.

However, a conservative blogger from Cedar Crest has created a Web site called Ethical Reporting — subtitled The Campaign Finance Reporting Blog for Politicians With Nothing to Hide — on which candidates can post their contributions, expenses and in-kind donations as they come in.

Burgos has been a critic of the secretary of state’s Web site, saying it’s difficult to use and virtually impossible to search.

“I’m an active Republican with a conservative blog who has run for political office in the past,” Burgos says on his site. “Now that we have that out in the open, please know that this site will remain strictly nonpartisan.”

He later told me: “Nothing would make me happier than for Dems to participate as well.”

Burgos said he ran the idea by Matt Brix, executive director of New Mexico Common Cause.

“I think it’s a pretty creative effort on Mario’s part,” Brix said. “I would definitely encourage candidates to use it.”


So far, only one candidate is on the site’s List of Ethical Politicians. That’s state Rep. Kathy McCoy, of Cedar Crest, who won her seat in 2004 after defeating Burgos in the Republican primary. She’s posted all donations and expenditures she incurred since the July 6 report.

McCoy is a member of the state task force that is recommending changes in ethics and campaign laws. “I thought it was appropriate as a task-force member to take this first step,” she said.

McCoy is running against Democratic challenger Janice Saxton of Placitas.

Burgos — who spent about 20 hours over the past three weeks and less than $200 creating the site — said readers can add comments about individual contributions. “If somebody’s getting money from someone who’s dealing with the state, you can post a comment,” he said. Candidates in turn can respond to the comments, he said.

But he admitted there is one drawback: You can’t click a button and total how much McCoy or future participants have raked in or spent.

“I’m not a programmer.” Burgos said.

Both Burgos and McCoy say they support the idea of the state requiring “real-time” reporting of contributions as they come in.

“The way it is now, by the time the public can look at our contribution lists, the election’s over,” McCoy said. “This helps create cynicism in the public arena.”

“I don’t like the way the (ethics) task force is going with trying to set limits (on contributions and gifts),” Burgos said. “I’m for 100-percent disclosure. If you have lunch with a lobbyist, put it out there.”

Man of Mystery: Speaking of campaign contributions, all the candidates I spoke to earlier this week who had taken money from Jeffrey Epstein — the billionaire financier recently indicted in Florida on felony charges of soliciting prostitutes — said they’d never met Epstein.

It kind of reminds me of what my mom told me about taking candy from strangers.

I also was struck by The Palm Beach Post’s description of Epstein — accused of having sex with a string of teenage girls — “Epstein, now 53, was a quintessential man of mystery. He amassed his fortune and friends quietly, always in the background as he navigated New York high society.”

Five years ago in this paper, former New Mexican reporter Elena Vasquez, writing about Epstein’s gigantic mansion in Santa Fe County (on land he calls "Zorro Ranch"), picked up on the “mystery-man” aspect of his character.

“Epstein is as mysterious today as he was when he began building his estate. He apparently is a private man who has sworn his ranch employees to secrecy — making him an enigma to his 30 neighbors in the sleepy town of Stanley. One resident said her curiosity died down after many of her questions remained unanswered.

“ ‘They wouldn’t tell anybody anything,’ said (a neighbor), who has become friends with some of Epstein’s employees. ‘... Whatever they do there is their business, so I just let it drop.’ ”

Lamont/Lieberman: So far at least 20 Democratic U.S. senators have said they will back Connecticut Democratic Senate nominee Ned Lamont in the general election against incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is running as an independent after losing to Lamont in the Democratic primary. Only three Senate Democrats say they’re sticking with Lieberman.


Missing from both lists is New Mexico’s junior senator, Democrat Jeff Bingaman.

“Jeff’s not going to get involved,” Bingaman re-election campaign manager Terry Brunner said this week. “He’ll leave that decision to the voters of Connecticut. He’s got his own race to worry about.”

Bingaman is running for a sixth term against Republican Allen McCulloch of Farmington.

Other New Mexico Democrats haven’t been shy about the Connecticut race. U.S. Rep. Tom Udall is supporting the Democratic nominee, a spokeswoman said. Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Richardson endorsed Lamont last week and urged Lieberman to step aside.