Why John McCain lost New Mexico

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Years ago, the United States Air Force’s primary trainer was the T-37. It was a Cessna built, side-by-side controlled, twin powered, small jet. Its nickname was the “Tweet,” or the “Dog Whistle,” for its irritating, high-pitched sound when the jet was on the ground and idling.

Pilots said the plane turned JP-4 jet fuel into noise. Republican Presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain, a former Naval aviator, who flew a different kind of trainer, seemed to engage in a fuel to noise exercise as he traveled to Albuquerque for an Election Day stop.

McCain considered New Mexico “in play.”

So what’s wrong with this picture?

There is no picture.

McCain was scheduled to visit Albuquerque on Saturday Oct. 25, according to local press reports. I received notification of McCain’s visit to Mesilla, New Mexico, and his airport arrival at El Paso, Texas, but nothing about Albuquerque. I contacted McCain’s national press office, which sent me about 50 e-mails of press event notices, speeches and media releases, over the last 10 days of the campaign.

McCain visited the Duke City, Tuesday, in his final campaign stop before going home to Phoenix, Ariz. Despite all the e-mails of press event notices around the country, I received nothing about my back yard event.

He was in Roswell, Monday for the sixth of seven stops during the day. Monday’s campaign covered 3,700 flight miles, according to McCain, who spoke to reporters for the first time in months, on his airplane, Tuesday.

I first became aware of McCain’s Tuesday trip through an Associated Press story that he would be visiting the city. Local media outlets were putting information out on their websites; I just hadn’t noticed.


Republican operative, Marta Kramer, was New Mexico campaign manager. You’ve met her before, here in postings about how, as the State Republican Party Executive Director, she censored and refused access to media that she considered unfair to her candidates. Read: 2006 Election Returns,
Can We See Laura?
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; the Mean and the Nasty! But let’s not forget the Weird!

This is Kramer with State Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh at the October 25, State Fairgrounds McCain event.

The cap Kramer is wearing has the McCain-Palin logo and reads, “270.” The first thing that came to mind was another aircraft reference. When in the air and pilots wish to reference a landmark or point out the location of another aircraft at the nine o’clock position; the phrase is 270 (degrees) relative. In other words, the object is 90 degrees to the left; or a left turn. Of course the second thought was 270 represents the number of Electoral College votes necessary to secure a presidential victory.

The early Saturday morning event was attended by, my estimation, as being no greater than 850 people. This is a photomontage of more than 270 degrees of the event site. Click on the picture and see just how many people were present.

Note:
The methodology for assessing and estimating crowds vary. I personally count 100 people and establish a geographic size for them, then use my hands to create a circle to surround the hundred. I use the circle to go across the crowd in blocks counting how many blocks it takes to cover the entire crowd. I then add ten percent for any slop that could be introduced. There is an advantage in being higher than the crowd. Looking across a crowd gives an impression that the crowd is larger. The higher one goes, the better the count gets. That’s why a television shot from a helicopter is better than being on the ground.


It’s the little things that indicate when a campaign is in trouble. The small turnout was only one such indication. What screamed volumes was that there were about 60, 12 by 18 inch American flags piled on the sound equipment storage boxes directly behind the main press riser. The flags were not distributed to the crowd. Such events rely on meticulous staging and from a campaign standpoint; flags could have added an emotional touch to the message broadcast around the world.

Broadcast around the world? There were at least three International television crews present:

a Tokyo Broadcasting news crew,

a Brazilian news crew and

a Mexican Television Network News photojournalist, seen here with the McCain campaign’s lighting specialist.

Desperation seemed apparent by the size of the small crowd. They were enthusiastic, but just not very many of them and they had to be pumped up by a man running across the stage and yelling.

These two members of the band "Missing Stateside" of Albuquerque, are Gov. Palin's cousins. They played for the small crowd before the formal event started.

It was further reflected in the gung-ho attitude displayed by this decorated veteran, who is incapable of restraining himself in the presence of an American flag. He shouts out to the crowd, asking that they join him in reciting the pledge of allegiance, before the person scheduled on the program can be introduced. This man did the same thing during the Memorial Day event attended by McCain. This person stands tall, is unapologetic for his zeal and causes an awkward moment for organizers.

Weh stood stoically at the back of the event. A high school Marine ROTC Honor Guard stood nearby.

When Cindy McCain, right, the mother of a Marine deployed in Iraq and another son at the Naval Academy, prepared to introduce Sen. Lindsey Graham, center, she started by pointing out the Marines, not indicating they were students, and thanked them for their service. Graham introduced McCain, left.


The reason I didn’t get photographs of McCain’s Election Day stop is not because I wasn’t trying to cover the event, but due to efforts by the local campaign to exclude the coverage. I wasn’t the only local outlet not to receive notification.

In my last post, I wrote about going to vote late in the day hoping to savor the entire campaign season.

When I learned McCain was supposed to be in town, I called his national press office and asked what was happening. The man who answered went through the standard routine; asking name and affiliation. After telling him who I was and that I was a freelancer who had covered all of the Senator’s visits to Albuquerque, he told me he had no information on the whereabouts of his candidate. When I pressed him, he said any pertinent information would come from the local campaign headquarters. I asked his name and there were several seconds of silence. I asked him a second time for his name and he hung up.

Little did I know McCain’s airplane had wheels up 15 minutes earlier and should have been crossing the State Line about then.

These are five views of McCain when he appeared in Albuquerque at: the May 26, Memorial Day ceremony at New Mexico Veterans' Memorial Park, his getting off the "Straight Talk Express" airplane three times, on July 14, Sept. 6, and Oct. 2, then at the Oct. 25, Expo New Mexico’s Spanish Village. I did not photograph McCain in Mesilla or Roswell; I also missed Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin three weeks ago in Roswell.


I started to write the following as a separate posting about McCain’s short Oct. 2 visit to the University of New Mexico. However, I was hesitant to publish out of a real fear that I might not be allowed access to any future events. How prophetic? I had access to one event and yet not another.

Every campaign is different, every event unique.

McCain had a very laid-back campaign style initially. He was unconcerned with the U.S. Secret Service until he wrapped up the statistical count of primary delegates making him the presumptive nominee and nearly had Congress force protection on him.

He would talk to the press forever, inviting the local pool on his “Straight Talk Express” motor home and talked on the airplane with the national traveling press while in flight. He’s referred to members of the media on more than one occasion as “jerks.”

This is the Boston Globe’s Washington Bureau Political Reporter Sasha Issenberg, left chatting with St. Cyr. Issenberg joined the McCain campaign in Albuquerque, traveling to St. Louis for the Friday evening, Oct. 4, second Presidential debate at Washington University.

Issenberg, who had traveled off and on during the campaign, said relations with the press had drastically changed from the earlier, more relaxed primary days, until the post convention where hardly anything was said to the media. Part of that change was due to the Vice Presidential nominee, Palin, and the campaign keeping her from the press.

McCain was also asked a tough question, July 9, about a Senate vote on requiring insurance companies that pay for Viagra, but do not pay for women’s birth control, to pay for both. There was a lot of discussion about how badly McCain handled the question. I described it to fellow journalist as the best “wrong answer.”

McCain seemed to be searching his mind for several things: trying to remember the legislation, if he had any recollection about the issues, if he remembered having any discussion about the issue before, and he was trying to think if he had an answer. His conclusion seemed to be, none of the above.


McCain was hounded by the video and ridiculed for not having an immediate answer. I saw it differently, I saw a man thinking, searching, and pondering a question that was not superficial. I saw what I want in a President, what most Americans should want in their President, a thought. It is clear from the many varied reactions of people that there was no simple answer to the question. It was so wide ranging that I heard people think it was only a question of a philosophical male-female medical and prescription policy hypocrisy and even to a question of whether McCain took Viagra.

His campaign staff seemed to think the video made him look bad and unprepared; open press sessions disappeared.

This is McCain ’08’s New Mexico Campaign Manager Kramer, center with the scarf, briefing selected Republican greeters for McCain’s arrival at the Sunport, Friday Oct. 3. From the left: Rowena Baca, front, Barbara Romero, Geraldine Sanchez, Abbie Woodward, seated, Kenneth Holston, white cap, Neil James, seated with the blue shirt, Jim “Cyber” Grant, purple shirt and black cap and Alfred Perez, right, in the suit.

Behind Kramer, to the left is Mike Garofalo of KOAT and to the right, Daniel Boyd in the brown shirt, of the Albuquerque Journal, part of the local press pool. The man in the black suit with the beard is Jim Spiri, a McCain volunteer who photographs the local campaign.

Kramer told the greeters that they could gain entry to McCain’s speech by checking in at the press desk at the University of New Mexico Student Union Ballroom entrance.

The event schedule was tight. It was so tight that theoretically one could not cover both the airport landing and the UNM event. The press gear was supposed to be in the room at 11:30 am, an hour and five minutes before the airplane was scheduled to arrive.

Experience says, you can get both events covered, even if you’re not in the local press pool. McCain’s Press Advance Matthew Cohen, seen far left monitoring the national press, and J.P. Hyso of KOAT TV with the camera on his shoulder, had told me he would assure my entry and if there was a problem, to call him on his cellular phone.

As McCain’s motorcade traveled towards UNM, I also made my way there.

When I arrived at the press sign-in table, the Uniformed Secret Service detail was taking down their magnetometer. I asked if I could speak to the McCain staff manning the table, thinking they must be close by. The officer explained that the campaign had shut down further entry.

What I didn’t immediately realize was, entry to the event ceased and the volunteer staffers had abandoned their posts. The officer said he wouldn’t help find a press desk staffer, but said I could call them. I stepped back, on my own, behind a cloth expandable barrier, the kind used at fast food restaurants, banks and airports to control crowds.

Greeters, Neil James and his sister Abbie Woodward, arrived and between us, we pooled the phone numbers of McCain’s local Campaign Manager Kramer, Press Advance Cohen, and Site Media contact Mark Wagar. All cellular phone calls went unanswered.

I still had a backup plan or two, of people I knew who were at the event and capable of making contact with Cohen.

While waiting for a call back, I raised my camera and photographed three USSS uniformed officers, above. The officer in the center raised his hand just above his belt and waved it back and forth three times. I took it to mean, not to take pictures. I lowered my camera.

The officer approached me and said, “Don’t take any pictures.”

“This is America; First Amendment and all,” I asked?

“Oh, I’m not telling you that you can’t take pictures,” he said. “Just don’t take my picture.”

As a journalist, a member of the fourth estate, a watchdog on government, I’m required to confront such a statement, which is a form of censorship.

“You’re a uniformed agent of the United States,” I said. “You may not ask me that.”

“You can take pictures,” he repeated. “Just don’t take my picture! OK?” The officer used the verbal demand utilized to intimidate the unknowing citizen.

I told him if he didn’t want his picture taken, then step out of the line of the camera’s lens.

He went outside and brought back three University of New Mexico Police Department Officers. A Lieutenant turned around before entering the building.

Officer Christopher Crespin, left and Sergeant Jeremy Parrish approached.

I recognized Crespin from him throwing me off the University of New Mexico Hospital grounds, last year, for taking a photograph of the new Bill and Barbara Richardson wing shot for Capitol Report New Mexico.

“I know who you are,” Crespin said. “You have to leave.”

I know an arrest when I see one, and I wasn’t going to resist.

“…Why are you removing me?” I asked.

“This is their security, they’re, uh they’re Secret Service,” Crespin said. “They don’t want you in there. I don’t know why, but you have to go outside. Thank you.”

He and Parrish wouldn’t engage in much discussion and certainly weren’t going to admit that they had no idea why the Secret Service officer wanted me removed.

Listening to only one side of a story, even if it is from another law enforcement officer, is an improper police procedure.

I wonder why an officer would be so willing to risk becoming part of a violation of civil rights complaint, by not even listening to the facts.

The Secret Service is not the campaign, but they often adopt attitudes and enforce their wishes.

Ultimately, I could not cover both McCain and his wife Cindy’s arrival and his speech.


…And Sometimes the Bear Gets You.

It seemed that the Oct. 3, McCain event was hastily put together, as the announcement arrived on Sunday for the Monday mid-day events. McCain had spent the weekend at home in Arizona. The campaign was headed to the Tuesday Presidential debate, and Albuquerque must have just been on the way.

The other telling point of how hasty this stop was planned and put together was the absence of a “Straight Talk Express” bus to drive McCain and his wife to the campus. They ferried about in an SUV.

The local Secret Service rented a car with a Mexican license plate from Chihuahua. It qualifies as a “What’s wrong with this picture?” photograph.

The Party mobilized staff from various other campaigns to augment ground personnel for the top candidate. Darren White’s Campaign Manager Sarah Lister, left, and NM GOP Communications Director Shira Rawlinson, center, seen here escorting Santa Fe New Mexican’s Kate Nash, right, helped national campaign staffers.

This is McCain’s Communication Director Brooke Buchanan. She is the enforcer of press rules.


Analysis

The McCain campaign seemed to start slipping as outside events and internal problems started to overtake the organization.

Hurricane Gustav striking the Gulf coast the first day of the Republican National Convention proved problematic and fortuitous at the same time. The GOP was cognizant of the abysmal emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the massive devastation to the New Orleans area two years ago. Party leaders did not want to appear like they were holding a celebration as a large area of the country was under the threat of a natural disaster. The fortuitous part of the storm’s threat was that in abbreviating the opening ceremonies, President George W. Bush canceled his scheduled appearance before the convention.

McCain’s choice of running mate, Palin, was at first a big draw, supercharging the conservative base, which was not totally enamored with him.

McCain and Palin withdrew from having open contact with the press and tighter controls were imposed on access. Pictures of Palin were considered fine and even encouraged, but talking to her was forbidden and harshly dealt with.

Palin’s luster wore off quickly as people started to learn more about her. She did a couple of national network television interviews and was perceived to have not performed well.

The campaign ran into several self-created problems.

They announced the withdrawal of all campaign workers and pulled TV ads from Michigan. Even within the Republican Party, there were those who thought the announcement was a blunder. Some thought that it should have been stated that there was a cut back and even if they left only one staffer, it would not have seemed like a total surrendering of the state. Palin would object to the move and was willing to visit the state herself.

McCain suspended his campaign rather than postponing scheduled stops to go back to Washington to work on the financial crisis. It was another wording problem. Obama supporters pointed out the need for a President to be able to "multi-task."

McCain suggested canceling the first Presidential debate, but eventually showed up.

The financial crisis was tied to the current Republican administration and McCain was not able to successfully distance himself from Bush.

Off and on this year, McCain’s New Mexico Campaign Communications Director Whitney Cheshire, right, vacillated from being hostile before, to being very friendly at the Fairgrounds event, when she greeted members of the media for the Secret Service’s press sweep. She is seen here talking with Santa Fe New Mexican Political Reporter Nash and other journalists.

There was one local volunteer who was extremely helpful, Jim Spiri, who photographed for the campaign.


KKOB-770 News Radio’s Chief Political Reporter Peter St. Cyr’s take was that, in the waning months, McCain was on a wildly expensive internal junket; flying around the country in a 737 and riding in a luxurious custom motor home, called, the “Straight Talk Express.”

St. Cyr was one of the few reporters able to maintain the ability to get interviews with McCain.

He represented the radio medium in the local press pool during several visits and rode “The Straight Talk Express,” July 14, when McCain answered questions with four other journalists. They are seen here headed to the bus and are: Barry Massey of the Associated Press, the McCain press liaison volunteer from St. Petersburg Fla, St. Cyr, Jeff Jones of the Albuquerque Journal, Nash of the Santa Fe New Mexican and blogger Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics taking their picture.

Mid October, St. Cyr got a five-minute telephone interview.

St. Cyr was in the pool Sept. 7, when Vice Presidential candidate Palin approached him at El Pinto restaurant to chat. He got a half-minute of audio recorded before the campaign press handlers descended upon him, putting a stop to their talking before a tough question could be asked. St. Cyr knew that Palin was in a “no interview” status and didn’t violate the campaign-imposed “rule.” He wasn’t punished and was in the pool again for other visits. The campaign, however, no longer held press conferences or briefings with the media.


My Take

Throughout this campaign cycle and the last, two years ago, Republican operatives in New Mexico have been involved in a struggle to maintain their grip on the leadership of the State GOP. A small group of far right members have a strangle hold on the organization and have shut out the moderate center, and liberal parts of the party. Decisions made by such party leaders to promote their candidates over other Republican contenders during the primary, in violation of the Party’s own rules, and their abandoning support in favor of the chosen few, doomed some candidates from having a fighting chance of winning.

The hard right ideology is not representative of the larger sense within the Republican Party. The leadership continues to engage in self-serving, self-promoting and self-protective actions in the face of charges of corrupt activities.

An oft-repeated question I hear about State Republicans is, how can the 70 plus year Democratic hold, as the majority party, be broken by the Republicans? The answer is simple; Republicans must get more votes. The problem is that, though the hard right wing of the Party is capable of getting their favorite candidates through the primary process, they are incapable of attracting the middle of the electorate. Such philosophically hard candidates even drive off moderate Republicans.

As long as the radical wing of the Party demands lockstep thinking and is unwilling to accept a broader view from similarly-minded, but not always those completely in agreement with them, the Party will not grow their “base” broad enough to prevail at the polls. The selected candidates must have an appeal that reaches the depth of the “conservative base” and yet they must also reach into, not only the moderate Republican ranks, but beyond, to the independents and conservative Democrats who will then make up a majority vote.

My blogging colleague and client, Ched MacQuigg of "Diogenes’ Six," is a regular critic of Albuquerque Public School’s lack of compliance with ethical standards.

MacQuigg, left, seen here with APS Communication Office Director Rigo Chavez, filed a complaint with the State GOP accusing New Mexico Republican Party’s 1st Vice Chairman Jon Barela, of violating a couple of sections of the State rules:

1-4. GENERAL - CONFLICT OF INTEREST - RESTRICTIONS

1-4-1. WHEN A PARTY OFFICER BECOMES A CANDIDATE FOR PUBLIC OFFICE

In the event the State Chairman, or any other State Officer of the Republican State Central Committee, shall file as a candidate for Public Office, and more than one Republican files as a candidate for that office, the State Officer shall immediately vacate the Party Office. In that event, the successor shall be selected in the manner for filling vacancies as in these Rules provided.

“Jon Barela contested for a vacant seat on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education (a Public Office) against at least three registered Republicans; Kathy Frazier, Mike Gibson, and Arturo Candelaria,” according to MacQuigg. “Jon Barela did not vacate his seat as required by NMRP Rule 1-4-1.”

Republican insiders predict Barela, left, is likely to run for the Party Chair as Weh, right, steps down early next year. Barela is also expected to run in the Feb. 3, 2009, APS School Board elections.

The GOP Rules Chair Lou Melvin scheduled a telephonic rules committee meeting. However, when news of the meeting was made public by another one of my colleagues and client, Joe Monahan, who posted the allegation, Melvin postponed the meeting. Melvin requested a written legal opinion that suspended the proceedings.


It was the attitude, not of the candidate, McCain, but his campaign workers and Party leaders, which created a level of arrogance and over control of media access that is palpable amongst journalists. The attitude does not help the candidate’s reputation for honesty. In other words, when a staffer either: outright lies, withholds information, deceives, misdirects, or plays favorites with journalists, they damage both the candidates and their operatives.

Campaigns, of all parties work hard to control their message and attempt to change it very little. A journalist can follow events for months and find that the original stump speech is basically intact. The media learns the speech to the point that they can recite it verbatim. They hang on every word, hoping for a new line upon which to report.

Photographers seek a new angle or interesting prop that gets introduced to the interminable show.


As the State Republican Party goes into their selection process, they have some credibility issues. One is that the leadership positions are up for election, just months before the Central Committee is elected. This concept is contrary to any sound precept for an “open” organization. Normally, a newly elected body gets to select its own leadership and not have them imposed by an earlier group that might be ousted by the most recent vote.

Combined with the heavy handed leadership, the rejection of the National Party rules as a guide for the State and the use of the “Rule of the Gavel” as the chairman runs meetings as he sees fit, there is no method to challenge that chair or to appeal to the membership to control their meetings.

The State Party will never become strong unless they live up to the ideal expressed in the National Party Preamble.

BE IT RESOLVED, That the Republican Party is the party of the open door.
Ours is the party of liberty, the party of equality, of opportunity for all, and favoritism for none.

It is the intent and purpose of these rules to encourage and allow the broadest possible participation of all voters in Republican Party activities at all levels and to assure that the Republican Party is open and accessible to all Americans.

The final aviation metaphor taught to me by my airplane flight instructor to describe a young person plenty of enthusiasm, but no direction to characterize the current Party. “All airspeed, no azimuth. ”

Choices

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Election Day is upon us and I still haven’t decided.

This election cycle has been going on what seems like forever. It feels like its been a continuation of the last mid-term election cycle with nary a change in beat.

Wearing my journalistic beanie, you know, the one with the propeller on top, it’s actually an arrow from a board game. You spin it and make a move according to where it points. I am beyond being a late decider; I have spent the last couple of years just trying to take it all in. I consciously try to refrain from making judgments or decisions, so I can cover campaigns and candidates as fairly as possible. I don’t always succeed in holding back on judging, but I do refrain from making my decision. Now, I have no excuses and I have to decide.

So what’s wrong with these pictures?

They aren’t in any particular order; I just tried to graphically put them nose-to-nose. Maybe that’s my problem? I’ve been looking for the definitive picture and now I have to get beyond the eyes and my ears and make choices. The top selections are:

Presidential candidates Senators John S. McCain, Arizona Republican and Barack H. Obama, Illinois Democrat.

Or is it going to be a middle of the road candidate?

Do yard signs help or just give you a chuckle?

Senatorial candidates, U.S. Representatives, Tom Udall, Democrat and Steve Pearce, Republican.

Congressional candidates, Bernalillio County Sheriff Darren White, Republican and former Albuquerque City Councillor Martin Heinrich, Democrat.

District Attorney candidates, Lisa Torraco, Republican and incumbent Kari Brandenburg, Democrat.

I’ll be voting late this afternoon; it’s more than my civic duty. I may as well savor the campaign season as long as I can. If a race is determined by a single vote, I want it to be the last one cast; mine.

Then it’s on to covering the “Victory parties.” Tomorrow, start dissecting what happened.

I anticipate the recap will feel like a train wreck.

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.