Voter Fraud?

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

As early voting ends and Election Day rapidly approaches, charges and counter charges abound. You’d think that you might run into barricades in the street dividing political factions. But alas, it’s only the final reconstruction project on what seems to be the never-ending Interstate Highway upgrades.

One of the hottest topics has been the question of proper registration of people wanting to vote.

Republicans continually call out ACORN, an acronym for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, because of problems with fictitious, forged and fraudulently obtained names. ACORN, just one of many voter registration efforts, admittedly has some problems. They pay people a certain amount for each person that they register. Some of the people they hire are unscrupulous and find the work tiring, frustrating and difficult; they take shortcuts and copy names out of phone books, sports pages or name cartoon characters.

ACORN, in many of their local chapters, monitor registration forms and notify election officials, usually county clerks, of potential problems. They also fire people who are discovered turning in fraudulent registrations.

All forms, questionable or not, are required to be forwarded and it is the election officials’ job to verify the legitimacy of the registrant.

ACORN submitted, “1.3 million voter registration applications from low- to moderate-income communities,” this election year. There are bound to be problems.

The Republicans have picked up on ACORN, in part because of their huge size, success and their ability to effectively reach low to middle income constituents. They provide other services that according to their website include issues ranging from: fair and affordable housing, better schools, fair tax fees, foreclosure assistance, gulf coast storms recovery, health care, immigration, living wage, paid sick days, predatory lenders, utilities service practices, and voter engagement.

ACORN has also taken on court challenges against what they call, “suppress the vote,” efforts by Republicans.

New Mexico State Representative Justine Fox-Young, left, a Republican from the far Northeast Heights, went out front at a press conference last week to decry a number of voter registration cards that the State GOP questioned. Later, the New Mexico Independent published that a private investigator, Al Romero, who reportedly claimed to work for newly elected State Republican National Committeeman and Modrall Sperling law firm’s Lawyer Pat Rogers, right, was questioning and possibly threatening or intimidating individuals named at the GOP press conference.

Rogers has for years been banging the drum of what he calls voter fraud, when in actuality he was talking about voter registration fraud. However, this time Rogers, Fox-Young and the State Republican Party have made the link between the registration cards they questioned and actual primary voters.

Part of their claim is that social security numbers belonged to other people.

I have a standing invitation for Rogers to provide the evidence he claims to hold. I have requested this information for my perusal and posting on this site. To date I have received nothing.

Note:
Early in my law enforcement career, I learned not to solely rely on social security numbers as an accurate form of identification. It seems that social security numbers are not unique; the same number may be issued to more than one person.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund have filed separate lawsuits in State and Federal District courts according to Gwyneth Doland at the New Mexico Independent, in two articles: "MALDEF sues over N.M. voter intimidation case," and "ACLU suing GOP: ‘They broke the law.’"

So what’s wrong with this picture?

Over a year ago, we reported on the efforts to recall and cover the ethics charges made against Albuquerque’s Southeast area City Councillor Don Harris.

I reported that a Harris supporter, Ellen Ward, left, filed a complaint with the City’s Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices against New Mexicans for Democracy, the group that tried to recall Harris and had filed the ethics complaint against the Councillor. Ward complained to the City Clerk that her signature was forged on the recall petition.

Ward’s complaint was forwarded to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department for investigation.

On June 3 of this year, I did a follow up posting on the investigative status. We found that BCSO White Collar Crime unit Detective Jeremy Guilmette obtained a case number from the Albuquerque Police Department’s Central Records repository, but he had filed no report.

At the time, Bernalillo County Sheriff's’ Department Public Information Officer Erin Kinnard Thompson seemed aggravated by the reporting. However, it appears my reporting had an effect. On June 5, 2008, APD Records received Guilmette’s initial report that had been approved by his supervisor on September 28, 2007. The case, that had stalled on October 12, 2007, started showing renewed activity on June 9 of this year.

Guilmette interviewed a number of people involved and filed a supplemental report on July 25.

Guilmette’s reports are incomplete. They wouldn’t pass muster in my basic report writing class. He was given several leads that he did not pursue. Guilmette limited his investigation to the possibility of only one crime being committed – forgery. He did not investigate the probable election related fraud.

Upon inspection, several things jumped out:
Guilmette named a suspect, Crystal Romero, as the person who gathered the signatures and signed the affidavits on the petitions attesting to having obtained each signature.

Romero identified two other people who had actually been in control of the petitions with names on them. Romero signed the petitions as having personally collected the signatures when she in fact had not.

One of the people was a young woman that Romero identified as Leticia Gomez. The other person Romero identified was a Hispanic man with a hurt back whose name she could not remember. “She knew he worked for the city as some sort of director,” Guilmette’s report states.

Both Romero and Gomez were present when Romero signed the affidavits on the petitions, but did not do so in front of the notary whose name appeared on the documents turned into the City Clerk. The petitions were turned over to Rear Admiral B. James Lowe, U.S. Navy (ret.), who was the leader of New Mexicans for Democracy, which was formed to recall Harris.

Guilmette interviewed Lowe, left, and learned several critical points that were not pursued by further investigation:
Lowe received the petitions with the affidavits signed by Romero and not Gomez, though he knew, because he followed them in his car, that Gomez had collected signatures.

Guilmette asked Lowe if he knew the identity of the man with the hurt back. Lowe said he thought he possibly knew who he was, “but didn’t want to ‘throw him under the streetcar.’” Guilmette did not ask Lowe to identify the possible suspect.

Leslie Drain notarized the documents collected by Romero, Gomez and the unidentified man. “I attempted to contact Leslie Drain to find out whether Crystal was present at the time she notarized the documents,” Guilmette wrote. “I used numerous law enforcement databases, but was unable to contact Leslie.”

It might have helped if Guilmette spelled her name correctly -- Lesley. A quick check using whitepages.com revealed her name, address and phone number. We did not contact her because it has been our position to avoid interference with a criminal investigation. In this case, though it is closed, it shouldn’t be.

Guilmette identified 10 victims, but did not identify Harris as one of them, nor did he interview him. If Guilmette had properly identified the possible crimes that might have been committed, he would have recognized that Harris was also a victim

Guilmette exceptionally cleared the case, which means he claims to have: identified the parties, established sufficient facts, made no arrests, nor made any recommendations about prosecution, and forwarded the case to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration.

Analysis

Guilmette failed to complete an appropriate investigation. He had leads on the man with the injured back, but failed to identify him. He failed to establish whether Lowe accepted the petitions from the people working for him, allowing one, not all of them, to sign the affidavits. It appears that he also allowed them to sign the affidavits outside the presence of the notary. It further seems the notary signed that she observed and had the petition gatherers swear to the facts contained in their affidavits. If true, there are potential felony crimes involved.

My Take

Ultimately, this case falls on the boss, Sheriff Darren White, who is also running as the Republican candidate for the New Mexico first Congressional District seat vacated by Representative Heather Wilson, She unsuccessfully ran against fellow Rep. Steve Pearce for the U.S. Senate seat of Pete Domenici, who is retiring for health reasons after 36 years.

White has made an issue of voter related fraud issues a couple of years ago and called out then U.S. Attorney David Iglesias for not following up on charges brought by Rogers.

The battle between White and his Democratic opponent, former City Councillor Martin Heinrich, has been particularly nasty, with each side trying to out do each other with charges in negative TV attack ads.

We cannot possibly take on each and every fact to check, but several, from both sides jumped out and deserve comment.

White’s Campaign Manager Sara Lister, right, with Heinrich’s Campaign Communications Director Rachel Wolin, left, conversed after White spoke about his back injury, the resultant week’s stay in the hospital and his position on health care.

Later in the day, a White staffer was in the crowd at Heinrich’s own press conference hosting Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, Ill. Emanuel is the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth ranking party member. Both camps used hand held video cameras to capture footage that would be used in the negative ads.

Knowing the background and histories of both men, it is disappointing to have to get out the hip waders to maneuver through this race.

White objects to the history of action brought against him 10 years ago when he was then Gov. Gary Johnson’s Director of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and was confronted by angry wives of State Police Officers and a substantial vote of no confidence.

White recently has tried to link former Democratic State Senate Pro Tem Manny Aragón with those actions against him as being nothing more than power politics exercised through the police union. Yet the history would show that while DPS Director White did move the Department in the areas of both increasing manpower levels and pay, he experienced some problems in acquiring safety equipment, in particular body armor from the Legislature. He attempted to make this link after Aragón recently entered guilty pleas to federal felony corruption charges.

A couple of things starkly stand out: White, as part of the Johnson administration, with its historic record of more vetoes than any New Mexico Governor, did not work as effectively as he might have and there were political confrontations with Aragón. However, the facts are that White had the police wives and a vote of no confidence against him. No matter how he now spins those events, that he left the State over Johnson’s stance on drug reform, White initially supported the Governor’s plan.

Upon leaving, White, right, was replaced by former APD Captain Nick Bakas, left, who was appointed December 6, 1999, by Gov. Johnson to be Director of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

”We increased the New Mexico State Police Department by 40 percent…” Bakas stated in a 2002 interview after being Appointed City of Albuquerque Chief Public Safety Officer by Mayor Martin Chávez.

Though Bakas was a member of the Johnson administration he didn’t bring the same partisan baggage White had. Bakas worked in a low-key manner to accomplish similar increases without all the drama.

As a former law enforcement unionist, I can’t shake the memory of the confrontation that White had with me in an APD hallway in the early 1990’s. He wanted to complain about some position the union had taken in representing an officer through the grievance process. Because I knew he wasn’t a member of the union, I was not then very concerned with his particular issue. I asked why he didn’t come to the union meeting to air his complaint. I encouraged him to join the union. He declined my offer and I tried to disengage, but he persisted.

I asked White how he liked the recent negotiated raise. “It was OK,” he said, “but it could have been better. “Give it back,” I said, the union worked hard at the negotiations table and he had done nothing -- not even paid dues.

I asked why White didn’t join the union. His response was that, to paraphrase him: I don’t believe in unions, have never belonged to a union, will never belong to a union and if I am ever in a position to get rid of a union, I will.

I then walked away. I have no reason to believe that White has changed this philosophy.

I leave to the electorate whether they choose to believe White now or then.

White aired an advertisement called, “The McGrane Family.” Jim McGrane Jr. was a Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriff, shot and killed March 22, 2006, during a traffic stop.

The non-profit organization, "Officer Street Survival Training" Deputy James F. McGrane, is a program designed to provide money for advanced training to New Mexico law enforcement officers. A member of the Board of Directors approached me asking to support their efforts.

Before retiring, I attended two different Street Survival Training courses, have read most of their books, viewed several of their video training tapes, and have personally benefited from them. However, as a police instructor, I came to have some fundamental differences of opinion with the private company that did the teaching.

The vast majority of the training was sound. However, there seemed to have been a mismatch between the teaching and what was being learned. Police officers learned things that were beyond the teaching. Specifically, the teaching was often beyond what many police departments had contemplated and they did not have policies in place that addressed what was taught. This was and actually caused some problems. In Albuquerque, officers relying on what they learned in the courses, had exceeded policy and at least one death occurred when an officer stepped outside both the training and department policy.

Rita McGrane called Heinrich “despicable” for having run an ad questioning White’s dedication to protecting his officers.


These are the sentiments expressed in these ads, “Darren White: Can't Be Trusted in Congress (NM-01),”


... and "Darren White's References," that probably upset the McGrane family.



The problems I have with White’s shameful use of the grieving McGrane family in this attack ad are that Heinrich stated facts:
The wives of White’s DPS officers expressed their opinions that “…endanger the lives of their husbands and fail the citizens,” as reported in a Nov. 10, 1996, Albuquerque Journal article, while a Santa Fe New Mexican article, on Nov. 5, 1996, reported wives called the situation at DPS as, “the lowest morale,” in history.

DPS officers took a vote of no confidence in White 10 years ago.

White’s budgetary situation at the County is drastically different and improved.

McGrane family’s non-profit, in their son’s name, to assist funding advanced training is honorable and fills a void caused by inadequate governmental funding.

There seems to be a slight bit of hypocrisy in saying White will do anything to protect his officers while the McGrane family finds it necessary to raise funds to pay for advanced training, when the Sheriff can’t.


White, in an attack ad, tries to paint Heinrich as having “cut a shady deal,“ put forward a personal agenda in extending the then seven-year-old transportation tax that was scheduled to sunset in a few years. White’s claim was that Heinrich and some other Councillors were bypassing a public discussion and vote.

The fact was that the transportation tax had been put to a public vote even though there was no requirement in the City Charter to do so. Likewise, the Council could extend the tax beyond the sunset date on a majority vote.

Heinrich, right, presided over the Council listening to Councillor Craig Loy, with Ken Sanchez and Issac Benton on Nov. 11, 2006, when there was such a huge public outcry that the Council and Mayor Chávez withdrew the Heinrich sponsored tax extension proposal that included the modern day trolley.

Silvio Dell'Angela, President of Stop Wasting Albuquerque's Taxes, with the sign, was on hand during one of two City Council meetings protesting the possibility of extending the transportation tax. White’s assertion that the public would not have a vote was speculative at best.

Albuquerque had a streetcar that started service after the arrival of the railroad in the mid 1850’s. The remnants are on display at Fourth Street and Central Avenue.

Mass transit is an important component to modern cities, like Portland, above, but there are some specific geographic limitations on allowing streetcars to operate in Albuquerque. Specifically, the West Central hill is too steep an incline for a self-propelled train to climb. San Francisco adopted a cable car system 135 years ago for its hills.
It's not in any plans for Albuquerque.

The State Democratic Party, in support of Heinrich, raised questions of White’s health care proposal and asked in a press release, who paid for his hospital stay after injuring his back? Heinrich had said he wouldn’t make an issue of White’s injury, but that didn’t stop the Party.

Public employees enter into public service with promises from the government to provide certain benefits, including health insurance. Most governments have agreed, sometime reluctantly or begrudgingly, to provide these services. Rarely does the government pay the full fare on such costs. There was nothing wrong with the Party asking if non-governmental workers should also have similar benefits, but they feigned ignorance as to what the costs, rationale and reality of White’s insurance were. It was a cheap shot.

Heinrich’s campaign also raised a couple of law enforcement questions that are just wrong.

Democrats called for a reimbursement of funds that the Bernalillo County Sheriffs’ Department expended escorting President George W. Bush from Kirtland Air Force Base to the North Valley and on May 27, 2008, to hold a private fund raiser for White.

Fact: When the President, or any person under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service, politician or not, comes to our community, they request assistance from local law enforcement. Local law enforcement responds. In the May 27 incident, the BCSO happened to lead the motorcade with one of their new shiny pickup trucks. Was some kind of bragging rights imparted in that? Possibly. However, it doesn’t matter one bit, if it was: APD, State Police or BCSO, all the units would have been utilized, their order is of little matter from the security standpoint, except of course the motorcycles, which came from all over the State. Each jurisdiction picks up their share. The President of the United States, no matter who he is, gets treated with an appropriately higher level of protection. It’s just the price of having an open society. Otherwise, they all pretty much get treated the same.

Heinrich questioned the use of Deputy Sheriffs by the County Clerk to accompany ballot boxes from the polling places to counting location. It is a duty that has existed for a long time and falls under the mandate of "maintaining the peace," as these two deputies', above, provide by their mere presence at the ballot collection site two years ago.

There was a time when deputy sheriffs’ were the “good ol’ boy” buddies hired by the elected sheriff under a patronage system; those days are long gone. Now, with state certification and strict hiring requirements, professionalism is much higher. Further, if a deputy sheriff attempted to highjack a ballot box, the election judges and workers would scream bloody murder. Hyperbole aside, White was correct to defend the professionalism of law enforcement officers.

White has involved himself in questionable legal conduct. When President Bush came for the fund raiser, the primary had not taken place. There is a State GOP rule that is incorporated into the State Election law that prohibits the Party or any Party official from endorsing one Republican primary candidate over another. Bush wasn’t the only Party official to make such an endorsement; Sen. Domenici in the primary endorsed Rep. Wilson for his vacated seat and White for Wilson's Congressional office.

White also held a fund raiser where he invited University of New Mexico’s Head Basketball Coach Steve Alford, above, arriving at the home of UNM Lobbyist Joe Thompson.

In “Can't Trust Martin Heinrich,“ a Republican Party of New Mexico produced attack ad against Heinrich, the announcer, citing Boomantribune.com, stated, “…Martin Heinrich even promised to block funding for body armor, bullets and other critical equipment for our combat troops unless they’re pulled from Iraq….”


Booman Tribune disputes the use of their quote.

On September 17, 2007, Councillor Heinrich voted with the majority: on a five for - two against and two excused vote, on a resolution, “Calling on the United States Congress to Rescind the Iraq Resolution and Pass a Resolution Calling for the Orderly Withdrawal of American Troops from Iraq to Commence Immediately,” (R-07-293).

The resolution went on to read that, "The City Council opposes efforts to cut the funding for our troops as a method of ending the war. As long as American Troops remain in Iraq we support providing all funding requested by military commanders in order to provide the resources necessary to safeguard them as they carry out their mission. These resources include, but are not limited to, food, shelter, body armor, weapons, goggles, heat resistant gloves, armored transportation equipment and communications equipment.”

For: Debbie O'Malley, Sanchez, Benton, Michael Cadigan, and Heinrich.
Against: Sally Mayer, and Loy.
Excused: Brad Winter, and Harris.

Two years earlier, on February 23, 2005, Heinrich voted in the majority: on a five for - none against and four excused vote, on a resolution, “Directing Albuquerque Police Department to Donate any Surplus Body Armor to the NM National Guard and Reserve Units Deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq,” (R-04-197).

For: Winter, Eric Griego, Cadigan, Heinrich, and Loy.
Excused: Miguel Gómez, O'Malley, Mayer, and Tina Cummins.

Heinrich relied on the Journal reporting that was later retracted, about White’s alleged involvement in contacting Department of Justice and White House officials leading to the Firing of New Mexico’s U.S. Attorney Iglesias, left.

White denied contacting anyone other than Iglesias, whom he officially contacted by letter as Sheriff complaining of accusations of voter related frauds.

The GOP ad claims Heinrich smeared a decorated soldier and lawman -- White. The ad went on to use a “do you still beat your wife” statement by saying Heinrich had refused to condemn the Move On.org “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” ad that ran in the A section of the Monday September 10, 2007, New York Times.

In another White ad Heinrich is accused of being an “extreme environmentalist,” as if the phrase means something in the general lexicon. White makes the claim by tying Heinrich with Dave Forman, a former member of Earth First, an environmental group that used radical tactics; they sat on a board together. Forman plead guilty to funding efforts to blow up power lines to a nuclear power plant. White uses the new fear word, terrorist, though Forman paid his debt to society.

White has developed a reputation for demanding people condemn statements that he, personally finds offensive.

In the 1950’s such behavior was rightfully called “Witch-hunting.”

White has his own history of trying to destroy, even fellow officers, for telling a truth and then refusing to take any supervisory action against his offending subordinates. His record on civil rights lawsuits is not very encouraging.

We borrow a quote from the United States Army’s lead attorney Joseph Welch during the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for Communist activities.

Subcommittee Chairman, Wisconsin Republican U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy was a rabid communist baiter. It was Welch who first took on McCarthy. McCarthy had accused Welch's young assistant, Fred Fisher, who had been a member of the Lawyers Guild; which the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Director J. Edgar Hoover claimed was a communist front.

"Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"


Correction: Erin Kinnard Thompson wrote on Nov. 10, requesting a correction, "I'm not married to Joe Thompson, nor is my husband related to Joe Thompson. Though Joe is a friend of mine, his wife might find your characterization of our relationship somewhat objectionable. My husband might not like it much either. Also, for future reference, Thompson is a pretty common name. We're not all related."

I also misspelled Kinnard in that particular reference. I apologize for the error in reporting to all the Thompsons.

Part of the confusion was I recognized Kinnard Thompson, center, approach Joe Thompson’s North Valley Home during the fund raiser. The man, left, is her husband Russ. The man to the right, blue shirt is Scott Darnell, then NMGOP communications director who was pressed into action as a parking attendant.

Bums, Crooks and Thieves

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

History repeats. Thirty-eight years ago, I took this photograph of President Richard Nixon during the 1970 off-year campaign stump tour to New Mexico for Pete Domenici, who was running for Governor. Domenici lost. Two years later, the New Mexico Democratic Council stole my photo.

Without permission or payment, the Council used the photo on the cover of an endorsement flier introducing a slate of Democratic candidates for national and state offices before the June 6, 1972, primary election. Democrat operative Mark Acuff, who was also my editor at the Albuquerque News, gave my photo to the Democratic Council. The photo had not been used in the NEWS’ earlier coverage.

A balloon above Nixon’s head ran with a quote:

“An administration which has four years to end a war and couldn’t do it shouldn’t have a second chance.” – Richard M. Nixon Santa Monica, Cal. October 1968.

I was young and didn’t handle the rip off very well… I’m not so young anymore.


I guess I should be ecstatic, if the old saying, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” is true.

Demand for my working political portraits reached new heights this past month. Everywhere I turned, there was one of my images. At least seven of my photos were taken and published beyond my regular clientele.

Just one problem; I didn’t sell or authorize any of those who posted them, to use my photographs.

Worse than that, some of the photos would never have been sold to the people or groups who used them. I‘ve decided not to allow my work to be used in negative ads. My decision was not based on a particular political ideologue, but a pragmatic journalistic tenet.

The state of the political world today has sunk to a very low point, with negative and attack ads being the norm.

Journalistically, my role is to report facts and illustrate events and those involved. To that end, in showing the players you get a wide range of emotions, gestures, and views of politicians in the public square.

Sometimes the presentation of my photographs are not very flattering. It’s difficult to get a good photograph of some politicians. Several politicians wish certain images of them were not exposed.

My rationale is that, as a journalist, those I photograph may be depicted in a less than flattering light as part of normal coverage. However, if my photographs of them ended up on their opponent’s campaign attack ad or literature, then they might rightly be upset. They might become less tolerant or unwilling to be photographed in the future. If so, I would be limited in my ability to continue to report and cover issues important to the public discussion.



At Fox News there is a firestorm about last week’s cover picture, by Nigel Parry of Creative Photographers inc., for Newsweek of Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Parry is a regular cover photographer for Newsweek and other major high-end editorial publications.

The ethical rules of the National Press photographers Association sometimes are in conflict with themselves:

1. Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
2. Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
6. Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

Media studies say viewers don’t like negative ads. However, they work.

The problem of theft of photographic services seems to be out of control.

“Sheriff Darren White Stole My Picture...Then Tortured It!!!,” the headline read over a story written by Jon Knudsen, under his pen name Johnny Mango on Duke City Fix, September 23. He complained that Republican Sheriff Darren White’s First Congressional District campaign stole, manipulated and then used a picture he took of White’s Democratic opponent, Martin Heinrich, in an attack ad.

Many of the nearly 50 comments on DCF were upset with White’s taking of someone’s property.

“Sheriff White in copyfight! Local progressive blogger sees his photo in GOP congressional hopeful White's new TV ad.” New Mexico Independent’s Gwyneth Doland wrote of Sheriff Darren White’s Congressional campaign stealing and using Knudsen’s photograph.

“Truth wins! Honesty wins! Darren White Closes Up His Thieving Photoshop” Knudsen wrote in a follow-up piece September 24, 2008.

I notified a fellow Santa Fe journalistic blogger of his Udall picture being used in negative campaign TV ads. I thought it might have been stolen; he confirmed it:

Thanks for the heads up. I hadn't seen that one, but I did see the Club for Growth used one of my Udall shots. (Christ, if Udall were Mick Jagger, I'd be Annie Liebowitz).

Funny response, but it’s not a laughing matter. I asked what his journalistic ethical thoughts were on the issue.

“…As I'm covering the Senate race, I don't want to see my name on any campaign finance report,” he wrote. “ I'll just ask the Pearce flack to pass on my request to cease and desist.”

My response is:
I have posted that I won't do negative ads and so: "There is an additional fee for not having conducted business in a reasonable way or properly crediting the photograph."

To my fellow photographers and bloggers who find themselves the victims of such thefts placed in this ethical dilemma I suggest that neither the thief, nor another photographer, nor I can un-ring the bell of publishing, once they commit a criminal act of stealing. So compensation is right and proper. To not seek compensation is worse, because when one’s work is used without payment and penalty, the assumption can be drawn that one gave away his work and it can look like he is supporting the candidate.

It's not that tough an ethical situation, but a mere cease and desist order plays into the thieves’ hands. They get away with committing the crime and receive the fruits of its benefits.

The Santa Fe journalistic blogger and I, along with some others, create work for journalistic purposes, not partisan political campaigns. We have the right to deny permission to use our work. Failure to negotiate a rate, assuming we were willing to sell, blunts any disagreement as to the price we then bill them.

If the thieves think the rate exorbitant, then maybe their accountants will suggest that they don't steal any more photos.

Taking down a stolen photograph is like returning the apple core to the fruit stand after stealing and eating it and saying there was no theft – there’s your apple. The value of the first publication is what must be compensated.

For the Santa Fe journalistic blogger, the problem of asking one side to take down the picture turned cancerous as the new "Polly" ad by Udall uses the offending picture in this reverse attack ad.


In My Case

The New Mexico Independent negotiated a price for the use of a picture, sent July 12, 2008, and published on July 14 to illustrate Managing Editor David Alire Garcia’s article, “Tom Udall says he feels your pain.” It was a special deal, but Alire Garcia, hasn’t paid what he promised.

One of my photographs of James Noel was used by the NMI to illustrate two of News Editor Tripp Jennings’ articles on August 28, “Important job, but little interest” and on September 2, “Noel withdraws name as elections director.”

After I billed them, Alire Garcia immediately took down the Noel photograph, left, which had been licensed to one of my clients, and we negotiated a settlement. I provided a different picture for the NMI site’s use. They did not use the picture, right, I sent them and more than a month later NMI still has not compensated me.

The Raw Story, a Washington, D.C. based news website that claims a 15 million per month hit rate stole my photograph of Fernando C de Baca, lifting it from Peter St. Cyr’s site and posting it on an article entitled, “NM GOP leader under fire for 'Hispanics above blacks' slur.” The Raw Story has come to an agreement on payment. Their response was so amicable that I may try to cultivate a working relationship.

Maryland’s Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen is Committee Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He spoke at the Michelle Obama Rally on the University of New Mexico campus September 3. His organization, the DCCC, is responsible for supporting efforts to elect more Democrats to the House. Many attack ads against Republican Congressional candidates on television are paid for by the DCCC. According to a Van Hollen blog posting on huffingtonpost.com, he claims not to be a fan of Karl Rove tactics.


Van Hollen’s DCCC stole my photograph of Republican N.M. CD 2 candidate Ed Tinsley and published it in an attack television commercial entitled “Ed Tinsley: What's Good for Ed is Bad for New Mexico (NM-02),” and my photo of Republican N.M. CD 1 candidate Sheriff Darren White, which was used in “Bush's Ally in New Mexico (NM-01).”



The most disturbing use of one my photographs is by former Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca who wrote about Sheriff White in his blogspot on Sept. 21, 2008:

“One thing you can expect from the Rove type of politics suffered on us by the republicans is that they most likely have a contingency plan for every scenario over the next six weeks. Mostly it will involve lies and sleaze.”

“…Finally, a little advice to the Heinrich Campaign. Before early voting starts I would concentrate all of my advertising on showing these two pictures together.”

Within a week, Patriot Majority West published my picture of White along with the suggested picture of President George W. Bush, side by side, in a campaign television commercial entitled “Surplus.”


Point of View, an advertising productions house in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester Springs was hired by an outfit called the Campaign Group to make the ad, flipped my picture to make it appear as if White was looking at Bush.

The following day The Justice Department report on the firing of the nine U.S. Attorneys, including New Mexico’s U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, above, was released. Baca pointed out that the Albuquerque Journal did not mention White’s name in their coverage.

“Several other Republican officials and activists complained about Iglesias to the White House as well,” Baca stated, but the report did not mention White as one of those complaining to the White House or the Department of Justice.

White’s name appeared in the Journal Sept. 29, in an article written by Associated Press’s Heather Clark, left: “Iglesias Applauds US Justice Dept. Report on Firing,” as one of several New Mexico Republican Party officials and activists pressuring Iglesias to prosecute alleged voter fraud.

On the What’s The Word with Peter St. Cyr blogspot of Sept. 29, “Darren White Provides Documentation in Voter Fraud Investigation,” disputes Baca’s assertion that White was involved in the contacting DOJ or the White House with complaints about Iglesias.

White provided an undated letter from Journal Editor Kent Walz in which the paper retracted its reporting that White had been among New Mexico Republicans to complain to the DOJ.

It appears that in a story published April 15, 2007, we incorrectly placed you in a convesation [conversation] with Kyle Sampson of DOJ during a meeting in the spring of 2006. We reported that you complained to Sampson about Iglesias and that Sampson produced statistics showing Iglesias was doing a good job.

This site had relied on the now retracted Journal article while writing a June 6, 2008 posting: “Election Fraud? UPDATE,” of White’s contact with the White House and DOJ.

At no time during the reporting of that story, or since, has White, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Erin Kinnard Thompson, whom I communicated with about that story, or White’s Congressional campaign staff, including Campaign Manager Sarah Lister and Communications Director Stephen Schatz, attempted to correct the reporting until now, through St. Cyr.

Kinnard Thompson had called, at the time, to complain about what she considered an error in that reporting about BCSO’ failure to actively investigate charges of voter fraud in City Councillor Don Harris’ recall election last year.

White, his campaign staff and I have had numerous contacts at which time he might have set the record straight.

“Domenici Key in Firing of Iglesias, Report Says,” wrote Journal Washington Bureau Michael Coleman Sept. 30, article about the DOJ’s findings. Senator Pete Domenici, right, and Congresswoman Heather Wilson, next to him, seen here at Memorial Day services in Albuquerque were named. Also mentioned in the report were Sen. Domenici’s Chief of Staff Steve Bell, GOP operatives: former State Senator Mickey Barnett, newly elected State National Republican Committeeman and former State GOP lawyer Pat Rogers were named as politically influencing Iglesias’ firing.

Rogers, right, is seen with Sen. Domenici, center, and Congresswoman Wilson at Domenici's endorsement of Congressman Steve Pearce for the Senate seat he is vacating. Pearce defeated Wilson who had been endorsed Wilson in the June Republican primary.

Journal Staff Writer Colleen Heild, left, wrote of White’s limited involvement in the Iglesias matter in an Oct. 1, article, “Sheriff Mentioned in Firing Account.”

Heild wrote that the Journal, in an April 2007 story incorrectly reported White had complained about Iglesias to DOJ official Kyle Sampson in 2006. The Journal wrote that White met with Sampson in 2005 about a job in the U.S. Marshals Service

The day before the Journal’s retraction, Baca complained in his Sept. 30 posting, “Any Other Day:”

If the report on the Justice Department firings of U.S. Attorneys had come out on any other day but yesterday, we would have seen major news coverage of Senator Pete Domenici, Congresswoman Heather Wilson, and Sheriff Darren White's complicity. Oh, lets dont forget Pat Rogers and the rest of the extreme rightwingers too. Last night I watched local TV news and the story got very little coverage. Astonishingly, the Albuquerque Journal didn't even mention White's name in the story it did. How could that happen?

Even so, I think it is enough to pretty much finish the Sheriff's run for Congress against former City Council President Martin Heinrich. Martin, give me a call and I will write a TV commercial for you....

Baca also used a picture lifted from Monahan's site, which he posted, Sept. 29, 2008, on his blogsite of former City Councillor Vince Griego, right, who had just passed away.

Had Baca contacted me, knowing from our many Monday evenings spent with Griego at City Council meetings, Baca as Mayor and I photographing the City Council meetings, I would have been very reasonable about the use of the photos of Griego.

However, the White picture provides a very different set of circumstances. It was stolen and used in a negative attack piece. Baca gave, “advice to the Heinrich Campaign,” suggesting a television attack ad using my photo and the one of Bush running side by side. Within a week, such a negative ad appeared.

A review of Baca’s site reveals he is a long-standing proponent of Martin Heinrich’s campaign with no less than 34 entries. Heinrich replaced Baca as New Mexico Natural Resource Trustee appointed by Governor Bill Richardson. Part of Baca’s support stems from his association with Heinrich’s wife, Julie Hicks, left with her husband. She served in Baca’s mayoral administration in several roles, including communications director. Read Baca's several postings on Hicks: Heinrich is the One, Another Accomplishment for Martin Heinrich, Fund Raiser, Staging, and This is one of my favorite pictures.

The alarm bells go off in this old cop’s head. It is illegal for a candidate, like Heinrich or his campaign to communicate directly with a third party support group, like Patriot Majority West.

Baca seems to be dragging me, totally unwillingly, into a possible Federal Elections Law violation. I won’t go. Billing him with the caveat of an additional fee creates a settlement statement, by payment in cash, acknowledging his failure to engage in a reasonable business negotiation.

When I sent a bill to Baca, he responded with a telephone answering machine message, in which he insisted there was no copyright notice, that he had contacted Joe Monahan, that he wanted Monahan to have me contact him, and that he was going to use my photos.

Baca said, “I’ll certainly take them off the website, but I’m not going to pay you.” He took my pictures down from his site and we then had further communications.

“I picked up both pictures by googling them too.” he wrote. “Seriously, is there no way you can get a copyright on them?”

There are several problems with his statement: when one uses Google’s image search, each photograph is accompanied by a warning, “Image may be scaled down and subject to copyright.” Monahan puts a copyright bug on each of his postings, though there is no legal requirement to do so any more. The law on bugging copyrights changed years ago and material is inherently copyrighted by its creation.

“Reconsideration might be a good thing, a better thing than just the bad publicity you are about to face,” I wrote.

Baca wrote that he would pay and, “I will also keep the email you sent in which you threatened me with black mail, something about damaging my reputation with bad p.r. (public relations). I will decide what to do with that.”

I responded, “I did not make a blackmail threat with the sentence, ‘Reconsideration might be a good thing, a better thing than just the bad publicity you are about to face.’ It was not a statement that if you didn't pay that you would face bad PR; you are going to face more than ‘just’ bad PR, I'm going to tell the truth on you. With the payment I'll be able to say, ‘at least he paid me.’”

Baca and the third party production company, Patriot Majority West, and The Campaign Group Inc. have since paid their bills in full.

Upon paying the bill, I provided a substitute photograph of Griego, left, for Baca to post on his site.

Analysis

There are some basic legal problems exacerbated by the ease of Internet technology.

Copyright is addressed in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, (the Legislative Branch) Sec. 8. (Powers of Congress)

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

Property is something in law, that is personal, real, tangible or intangible, and is exclusive in its ownership and in the right to dispose of it.

The copyright laws apply to anything produced by anybody. The fact that somebody does not complain of a theft or infringement does not make the stolen property someone else’s.

None of those who appropriated my work or other’s works have any claim to them. If they make such a claim they must first admit to illegally taking them.

To that end I refer to criminal law.

Albuquerque Code of Ordinances

CHAPTER 12: CRIMINAL CODE

ARTICLE 3: OFFENSES RELATING TO PROPERTY
§ 12-3-2 LARCENY; SHOPLIFTING.
(A) Petty larceny consists of the stealing of anything of value of $100 or less which belongs to another.

New Mexico State Statutes
CHAPTER 30
Criminal Offenses
CHAPTER 16
Crimes Against Property
30-16-1. Larceny.
A. Larceny consists of the stealing of anything of value that belongs to another.
B. Whoever commits larceny when the value of the property stolen is two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or less is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
D. Whoever commits larceny when the value of the property stolen is over five hundred dollars ($500) but not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) is guilty of a fourth degree felony.

Therefore, depending on the value of the work, one may be in violation of both copyright and criminal law at the same time.


An Aside on Jim Baca

I’ve known Baca a long time. Here he is with his wife Roberta "Bobbi" Miller Baca. He’s one of those guys that you can place in two categories at the same time. As a person, I like him; while some of his political acts cause problems.

I’ve supported him and opposed him. I put his name up for union endorsement as mayor once, but he didn’t get selected; David Cargo received the endorsement.

I also seconded a motion back in 1985 to make a negative endorsement against him in his run-off mayoral election with City Councillor Ken Schultz. Baca threatened the police union saying he was not seeking their support, but if the union made an endorsement and it was for the wrong candidate, then watch out. Schultz misused the negative endorsement of Baca, as a positive endorsement for him, in a full-page ad on the back of the first section of the Sunday Journal just before the election. Schultz won.

Baca sought my opinion on several matters over the years, including asking me whom I thought he should appoint chief of police when he fired Chief Joe Polisar. I suggested he make a global search, opening the possibilities nationwide and to place the police union president on his selection committee. He agreed with my suggestions, but didn’t follow through by putting a cop on the selection committee.

There were some 75 applicants for the job. I made an inspection of public records request to see who wanted the job. The Baca administration’s response was that the search committee was performed by non-city employees led by Roy Soto, his friend, political crony, and former deputy commissioner of Public Lands during Baca’s Land Commissioner days. More recently Soto, below left, was the State's Information Technology Cabinet Secretary until he abruptly left this past August. Contrary to Governor Bill Richardson’s polite press release, Soto, according to a legislative branch source, indicated he was fired for incompetence.

I took Baca to court for a temporary injunction. The court would not rule immediately and though the issue was alive, a hearing would not be scheduled or held before Baca, right, would make his decision and announce the selection of Gerald Galvin, center, as Chief. Baca did relent and placed the union president on the selection panel, but only after the field was narrowed to five finalists.

I had a run in with one of his appointed members of the Police Oversight Commission.

Baca has expressed thoughts that the police were out of control and sought ways to gain greater power over them. One such way was his establishing the POC. I was the Vice President of the local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge and took on a watchdog role when the Mayor and City Council created an ad-hoc committee to draft legislation that eventually formed the POC.

The ad-hoc committee met 10 times.

Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association President Alex Marentes, above, was on the committee.

During the June 17, 1998, town hall meeting on the POC legislation Baca entertained himself by reading a golfing catalogue.

Then City Councillors and now County Commissioners Alan Armijo, second from left and Tim Cummins, to his right, were on the ad-hoc committee. At the Town Hall meeting several models were presented, though it was a foregone conclusion as to which idea was favored by the Council and would be used.

The POC ordinance was adopted Oct. 19, 1998.

Cummins made a statement to KOB TV after passage as Chief Galvin walked by.

I wrote several reports for the APOA Review that were not well received by the administration. I was instrumental in having then-Councillor Michael Brasher, who is the manager of KNAW FM radio station, now a County Commissioner and is very attuned to open government, add an amendment requiring all POC meetings be televised on the government access cable channel, GOV 16. Brasher, above, is seen here on March 22, 1999, at the POC meeting explaining his amendment on televising meetings.

Appointed members of the POC, especially Commissioner Susan Seligman, right, next to Chairwoman Jill Marron, bitterly complained about having to hold their deliberations in public and on television.

Baca, seated, listens to City Attorney Bob White address the City Council as they deliberated the Police Oversight Commission legislation Oct. 19, 1998.

The POC attempted to hold interviews for hiring their Independent Council in closed sessions and I had to take them to District Court for a violation of the Open Meetings Act. I was successful and the POC was resisting the court’s order when I spoke out and was told to sit down by the Chair Jill Marron. I continued to speak and was eventually ordered to sit by my Deputy Chief Bill Weiland, above right, seen here at an earlier meeting with Lt. Michael Callaway of Internal Affairs, and Chief Galvin who napped.

Ultimately, I was fired and criminally charged. Mayor Baca didn’t say or do anything. I went through a year of hearings and a criminal trial where the charges were dismissed at the end of the State’s presentation. Almost a year later the City asked for mediation and reinstated me. I then retired. I had not threatened to or filed a lawsuit. The City’s rules required Baca to be aware of the amount of the mediated settlement. He again said nothing.

The greatest insult heaped upon the man was after he tenaciously fought for a new baseball stadium he had to rebuild the old Sport Stadium. It’s a beautiful, functional and friendly facility. However, because the park was opened after Baca left office, his replacement, Mayor Martin Chávez, took credit for the project on the brass plaque at the stadium. There are several City facilities with lists of City Councillors and or Mayors spanning more than one election cycle. This speaks loudly to Chávez’ arrogance and ego.

In his run for Land Commissioner, two years ago, Baca almost received an endorsement on this site. Before that race was over against current Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them.

This picture of Lyons was also stolen by local blogger Scott Key who writes “Burque Babble.” Key had a conniption, when billed, and has never paid.


My Take

I’m disheartened to have to expose my business practices publicly. However, the rampant nature of theft from the internet deserves some open discussion.

Before some go off trying to justify such thefts as “Fair Use” I would liken the argument to what happens when a police officer pulls you over for a traffic offense.

At one point in my career, I routinely visited the High School approved driver training classes and explained what to do when an officer stopped a driver. I started with “there are four ways to meet Officer Bralley;”

1. Up against the wall or assume the position
2. Let me see your driver’s license, car registration and insurance information.
3 Do you want to tell me about the accident? Or,
4 Wave and say, Hello Officer Bralley. And that’s done with all five fingers, – I already know I’m number one.

With my apologies to the
New Mexico State Police Officer
who spoke to my High School class,
from which I adopted parts of this.

With a challenge to someone who has taken a picture for their own use, the first question is, did you make the photograph? We both know the answer is no, because, at least I know that I took the photograph. The next question is do you have a license? We both know the answer is no, because, I didn’t issue an authorization to take and use my work.

Until those threshold questions are appropriately answered, no other theory has any standing.


A piece of legislation is working its way through Congress, having been passed by unanimous consent in the Senate during the bailout crisis and is heading towards the House.
It is cited as the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008”.

The language of the bill states:

Section 2. Limitation on Remedies in Cases Involving Orphan Works.

In general.—The Act creates a new section 514 of title 17, which provides a limitation on remedies in certain instances of copyright infringement in which the user of the work is unable to locate the owner of the work despite having conducted a diligent search.

Conditions on eligibility. To qualify for this section, a user must (1) perform and document a good faith – but ultimately unsuccessful – search for the owner of the copyright in the work being used prior to such use; (2) provide attribution if the identity, but not location, of the owner is known; and (3) include with the use of the infringing work a symbol, indicating the author was not located, in a manner the Copyright Office will prescribe.

Here is a major part of the rub.

Limitation on remedies. If the user qualifies for a limitation on remedies under this section, but the user and owner do not agree on reasonable compensation, a court may determine and award reasonable compensation, defined as the amount to which a willing buyer and a willing seller would have agreed immediately prior to use.

I can see what is happening here being argued. However, the original Constitutional language on copyright is, “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The words being, “exclusive right.” What this bill does is allow people to force work into the public square without regard for the owner’s wish. It assumes that the owner wishes to relinquish his exclusive right and that he is a “willing seller.”

It is presumptuous for Congress to draw such a conclusion.

No award of damages may be made if the user is a nonprofit educational institution, museum, library, archive, or a public broadcasting entity and such user can demonstrate that the infringement was not performed for direct commercial advantage; the infringement was primarily educational, religious or charitable in nature; and, the user promptly ceased infringement after receiving notice. Proceeds directly attributable to the use may be awarded to the owner.

“Direct commercial advantage” should not be the test; neither should, “nonprofit educational institution, museum, library, archive, or a public broadcasting entity,’ be the breakpoint on usage.

“Exclusive right” should be just that exclusive to the creator. I may choose never to allow use in any other way than it originally appeared. No matter how much someone else may want to use it or thinks it should be shared with the world; no law should force the owner into the marketplace.

In his phone message, Baca said, “I’m just really surprised about why you would do this to me.”

However, he’s not the victim by his own actions. It’s offensive, but I’m certainly not surprised at being accused of not allowing Baca to get away with taking my pictures.

As much as I might have enjoyed taking on a criminal action, it is easier on everyone to come to a settlement, even if it doesn’t make anyone happy. Settlement doesn’t assuage the question raised about Baca engaging in Rove like tactics himself.

So, I will leave it to the Republican Party or Darren White’s campaign to pursue and connect the lines from Baca’s original posting, “…Finally, a little advice to the Heinrich Campaign. Before early voting starts I would concentrate all of my advertising on showing these two pictures together.” Did the Heinrich Campaign, the third party advertiser, Patriot Majority West and The Campaign Group Inc., and Point of View Productions have direct links?

It all comes down to the theory that when those who are about to do wrong, attempt to justify their action by believing, “it’s easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.”

That’s when they become Bums, Crooks, and Thieves.

Catherine “Cappy” H. Gottfried

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

My favorite aunt, Catherine “Cappy” H. Gottfried, of Hackettstown N.J., died last Friday. She was 85.

My mother’s younger sister, Cappy was a fun-loving caring woman, quick with a joke, often a dirty one. She was a lifelong resident of New Jersey. Born Nov. 11, 1922, in Montclair, N.J., to Percy and Marguerite Guthrie.

She married Philip Gottfried, lived for 50 years in Whippany and raised a family of four children. I spent part of the summer of 1969 with them before attending New York Institute of Photography.

Her husband Phil, a former Army Major, gave the outward appearance of being a gruff man. He was stern, but fair and as a couple, they had a running comedy routine seldom matched. Cappy could blunt Phil’s remarks in a way that reassured those around him without putting him down.

I would take a 40-mile bus ride into New York City from Whippany and spend the day photographing. One day, I noticed in the newspaper that Bernadette Devlin, left, an Irish socialist and the youngest member of the British Parliament, was in town to meet Secretary General of the United Nations U-Thant, right. She was then going to receive the keys to the city from Mayor John Lindsay. I said I thought I’d take her picture. “Don’t bring her home for dinner,” Uncle Phil said. Cappy winked and said, “But, if you do, call and I’ll set an extra place at the table.”

She worked on an assembly line at Colgate-Palmolive in Morristown, N.J. and later became an Administrative Assistant in the Morris County Prosecutor's office. She had an understanding of my police work because of her association with the investigators with whom she worked.

Cappy was preceded in death by her husband, who died in 2004, and her son Richard.

She is survived by: her daughter Carol Falzo, sons Douglas and his wife Maureen Gottfried and Nick and his wife Joanne Gottfried, all of Northern N.J., many grandchildren, her sister, who my mother, Constance Bralley of the Sacramento, Calif. area, and their brother, Norman Guthrie of Birmingham, Ala.

She is seen here, left with my mother and father when she visited Albuquerque in 2003.

Palin’s Achilles

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Lots of bloggers are trying to make their case for who won the vice presidential debate.

I’ll leave it to them to turn red or blue in the face arguing that point.

It struck me that Alaska Governor and Republican candidate Sarah Palin didn’t answer the questions. It was most obvious when the moderator, Public Broadcasting Systems’ Gwen Ifill asked each participant what is your Achilles heel?

Palin did not answer the question. It wasn’t the only time last night. Democratic candidate Delaware Senator Joe Biden thanked Ifill for limiting his endangered heel to just one reference.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

I noticed it at the time, when Palin arrived in Albuquerque Sept. 6, and was greeted by a welcoming committee; it appeared she had three heels. Click on picture to enlarge.

She covers her deficiencies in not knowing an answer with making up her own question and answering it instead. It’s a technique that can prove helpful, especially with the press when a public figure wants to make a statement and the press wants to talk about something else. As I’ve taught in media relations classes when the microphone is pointed at you, it’s your's; say what you need to say.

It works well with sound bites, just not so well in televised debates. Palin showed her Achilles weakness which can be one of honesty, forthrightness and knowledge.

My take

She falls like the Greek mythological hero of Troy in The Iliad of Homer.

To some bloggers, they may hope the arrow hit the third foot; which wouldn’t be good for Darren White’s Campaign Manager Sara Lister, whose foot creates the optical illusion.

Of course, we still don't know who the Republican gentleman greeter was who got the long hug and chat from Palin, thanks to Lister and McCain '08 Southwest Regional Communications Director Ivette Barajas for not haveing identified the greeting party.