Public Defender Goes Overboard.

I almost fell off my bed when I read this story. Let me explain, first off I read the papers about 1:30 to 2:00 in the morning before I go to bed. Sometimes not the whole paper but at least the biggest stories and then I will finish the rest in the morning. Enough about my insomnia or odd sleeping habits. I clicked on a story about the opening arguments in the State vs Ivan Atencio trial. Ivan Atencio is a career criminal drug addict. One evening a lady calls police to report that she has observed a stolen car parked at a store parking lot and there is a man inside. Doing what a cop is supposed to do they approach the man and ask him to step out of the car and speak to officers so they can investigate. He refuses to follow commands struggles to escape, and as he tries to drive away he drives straight at an officer making the officer fear he was about to be run over. The officer fires his weapon at the vehicle in order to stop the vehicle from running him over. A chase ensues and all that many other officers hear on the radio during the chaos is "shots fired". apparently some officers may have thought this to mean that the suspect had a gun.

During the high speed dangerous chase the officers finally stop Atencio and surround the car. He again tries to drive away putting officers lives in danger of being struck by the vehicle Mr Attencio is driving at them. Officers fire their weapons once again trying to stop Mr. Attencio from killing someone, primarily the very officers he is driving at. He is shot but not fatally and arrested.

Now, defense attorneys are supposed to mount a rigorous defense on behalf of their client. I have no problem with that. A common defense tactic is to blame the police for what happened. Never mind that the actions of the suspect created the situation that officers had to react to. However, where I nearly fell out of bed was when I read this which was said during opening arguments, "The Santa Fe Police Department, literally in a concerted effort, attempted ... to murder my client," Public Defender Sydney West said. "What you will see in this case is police were the perpetrator and Mr. Atencio was, in fact, the victim."

What!!! Calling our officers attempted murderers! I am disgusted at this public defenders choice of words and her unabashed attempt to make the officers the criminal's in this case. We in law enforcement are used to the tables being turned on us in criminal cases by the defense attorneys. Officers are often accused of incompetence or indifference. When the physical evidence is irrefutable the attorneys try to say it was not collected correctly or that officers somehow wanted to frame someone they never met and would have no motive to do so. When there is no physical evidence then officers are accused of not looking hard enough to find it. It always goes back to a common defense tactic of putting the officer on trial.

Usually the defense attorneys are not so disrespectful and callous about doing so. I hope this backfires, I hope the jury has enough sense to see what is really happening here. Sometimes they do, unfortunately sometimes jury's take the bait.

New York Times Chronicles Heroin Problem in Northern New Mexico

The April 2, 2008 New York Times delved into Northern New Mexico's heroin problem, primarily the use of Narcan and distribution of clean needles. New Mexico distributes Clean needles in a needle exchange program and also distributes nasal spray doses of Narcan which is a drug used to recover and prevent death during an overdose.

According to the article Needle exchanges and Narcan distribution are opposed by federal officials, who say they amount to endorsing addiction. Bertha K. Madras, a deputy director at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has said that Narcan, the trade name for naloxone, should be administered only by medical professionals and that it could make addicts feel safer and less likely to seek care.

As I read the New York Times article this morning I couldn't help but think about this article which came out this morning in our local paper. While the contents of the article which chronicles the arrest of a man who traded heroin for the sister of an addicted man would shock many, it does not surprise me. Northern New Mexico which includes portions of Northern Santa Fe County is an entirely different world when it comes to drug addiction and death. I have seen grandparents, parents, children and great grandchildren all addicted to heroin in the same family. The family ties of addiction make arrests and undercover operations in these areas extremely hard. Because everyone is related, outsiders are not accepted and can not break into these family drug cartels. This makes law enforcement operations extremely hard in these areas.
I have often defended the drug war and exposed why I feel that legalizing drugs is a bad idea. However I do feel that we as a state and a nation are not spending enough for treatment centers, in particular long term treatment centers. I also feel Narcan is an effective life saving tool. I still have not made up my mind on needle exchange programs. On the one hand I do not want to do anything that promotes continued use of drugs however, I do realize that clean needles prevent the spread of diseases and save lives also.

This issue is not a quick fix issue. We will have to use many different tools in order to combat this problem. The costs to jail someone is as much if not more than treatment. The waiting lists for treatment is long however the jail always has room for one more. The one point I do often make is the fact that many of those who do receive any treatment at all are as a result of an arrest. You really don't find many people who seek out help on their own. Many may not want to believe it but when we arrest someone for drug crimes we would like nothing better than for that person to get help and become a productive member of society.

For more on drugs and legalization click here.

Reaction to feds wreck havoc post.

My phone has been ringing a lot since I posted yesterdays opinion on the way the federal government has handled the City Police Detectives case. So far all the calls have agreed with my take on the issue. The Albuquerque Journal picked the story up off my blog and Vic from the journal added that several officers from the city had already filed complaints with Tom Udall's Office. The congressmen and women from New Mexico are probably gun shy about getting involved in criminal matters after the Robert Vigil and Manny Aragon cases in which Senator Pete Dominici and Congresswoman Heather Wilson were lambasted for contacting then United States Attorney David Iglesias. However I hope they are not too gun shy. This case does not involve political figures and when the F.B.I. and U.S. Attorneys do the amount of damage they have done to a community the only recourse a community has is to file a complaint with our congressional delegation.

Feds wreck havoc with City Police then walk away.

On Friday Night I received several calls letting me know that the federal govenment had dropped all charges against former Santa Fe police detective-sergeant Steve Altonji. As I spoke to several individuals involved either peripherally or some what directly over the weekend I can't help but wonder what the federal government was thinking. In May of 2007 The F.B.I. filed charges and searched the homes of two of Santa Fe City Police Detectives. There was a number of leaks of information in the weeks leading up to the charges as well as afterwards regarding the case. The F.B.I. seemed to have no trouble leaking information to the press yet would not release information to the agency heads at the City Police Department. The Police Chief, not knowing for sure who was involved and how strong the case was had no choice but to suspend narcotics investigations in the city.

This created an increase in narcotics and burglary cases that plagued the city and stretched out into the county and even surrounding counties. We all had to deal with the repocutions of these cases. So the federal government comes in, spreads around huge allegations. They file 24 felony counts against these detectives, and refuses to cooperate with agency heads allowing them to make informed decisions regarding the agency they head. Then a year later they drop all but one count against one detective and work out a deal with the other in which he agrees to not be a cop in New Mexico and they just walk away. Considering that the federal government already filed a motion in court which says they do not have enough evidence to prosecute these cases, what was their bargaining chip and what is the hammer they hold over the head of Steve Altonjie to make him give up his career as a cop in New Mexico? The only thing they possibly had was the fact that Steve probably wanted to just end the whole thing and make it all go away. So he agrees to give up his career in New Mexico as an officer.

The truth probably is, What Career? With their slash and burn tactics the feds had already ruined the careers of these two detectives and even when you look at the one charge that Detective Danny Ramirez plead guilty for, and his explanation verses the federal governments explanation, there is still much to suspect about whether Detective Rameriz was really guilty of anything. I have to admit when I first read the indictments (read them here) the purported evidence seemed insurmountable. But the truth seems to be that the federal government threw together a bunch of circumstantial evidence and filed the cases in court before anything could be proven. This is very amateurish in the sense of what a good prosecutor and law enforcement agency should do and seems to have been designed to put enormous pressure on the two detectives to just take the easy way out and plead guilty to something rather than face the costs and pressure of going to court.

This is not the way our system of justice is supposed to work. When charges are filed you should have enough evidence to present a case to a jury. Granted their is always extra work that may need to be done prior to trial but you do not file charges and hope the defendant takes a plea and you don't ever have to prove your case. I am embarrassed by the way this was handled. The Federal Government has come into Santa Fe, blew through the City Police Department like a tornado, left the city to pick up the pieces and walked away. Someone in the federal government should have to answer to the way these cases were handled. I call on our congressional representatives to look into this matter and see who dropped the ball and hold them accountable.

If these detectives were guilty the public deserves to have them held accountable. If they were innocent they are owed their lives and their careers back.

KOAT TV has interview with Deputy Shot in Lincoln County

KOAT TV had an interview last night with Sergeant Robert Shepard of Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. Sergeant Shepard was shot by a fugitive on March 18, 2008. It was very emotional for me to watch and Sergeant Shepard showed what a great man he is when he makes a point of wishing condolences to the family of Kurt Sohrbeck the man who shot him. Kurt Sohrbeck was killed yesterday 3-26-08 when he was found in Otero County. I am glad to see Sergeant Shepard is doing better and my family's prayers continue to be with him and his family. I also thank god that the Otero County Deputy who confronted Sohrbeck survived the encounter and made it home to his family.

There is a saying in law enforcement that sounds harsh but is implanted in the back of every cops mind. "It is better to be judged by 12 than carried by eight."

Record blog visits since posting Toby, Ted, Rodney and Me.

The last two days the visits to this blog have more than doubled. Seems this blog was mentioned in the forums of both Toby Keith and Ted Nugent's Web sites. You must become fan club members in order to access the forums so I did not get to see the actual posts. My counter keeps track of how people find this blog and most hits in the last two days have come from their forums. Normally I get 60-70 hits a day to my blog. Yesterday I received 240 hits and today we are over 140 so far. I guess we need to have more celebrity guests on this blog! LOL.

Toby Keith gets sworn in as a deputy.

Toby, Ted, Rodney and Me.

Its appropriate that the title of this post sounds like a country music song. Its about my day with Toby Keith, Ted Nugent, and Rodney Carrington. The three along with Claire Forlani, ("CSI: NY"), country icon Willie Nelson, Barry Corbin, ("No Country For Old Men," "Dukes of Hazzard"), and Tom Skerritt ("Brothers and Sisters") were filming the movie "Beer for my Horses" in Santa Fe.

As has become usual for Santa Fe, The Sheriff's Office provided security and traffic control for the movie, paid for by the production company at over time rates. I visited the set and Ted Nugent, Toby Keith, and Rodney Carrington joined Burt Reynolds, Adam Sandler, and Chris Rock as honorary deputies in Santa Fe County. I had lunch on the set and watched some set up for the nights filming. It was a lot of fun and I thank the stars and the staff on the set for treating me like a star.

Ted Nugent and myself on the set of Beer for my Horses.


Toby Keith getting sworn in by Sheriff Greg Solano as a Honorary Deputy


Rodney Carrington and I strike a pose.

The Nuge signs an autograph for me.

Some may remember that Toby Keith gave Barry Switzer a friend and supporter of mine a signed guitar for my Re-election campaign. We raffled the guitar off at a fund raiser which was attended by Barry Switzer, former Oklahoma University and Dallas Cowboy head coach, who mingled with the crowd and signed autographs.

This last weekend Ted Nugent (his honorary commission says Theodore Nugent) called my cell phone and expressed his prayers for Deputy Robert Shepard of Lincoln County. Deputy Shepard was shot by a fugitive on March 18, 2008 and is in an El Paso Hospital fighting for his life. Ted said he wants to be back in New Mexico in a few weeks and would like to visit the Deputy. I am sure all of law enforcement appreciates Ted's support.

Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness

On March 15, 2008 I took part in Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness. It was an evening of monologues featuring stories of people affected by mental illness. The pieces included performances by people both with a diagnosis of mental illness as well as family members living with this disease. The event was produced by the Santa Fe Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Project Life Stories. It was interesting from a writing perspective because other than this blog most of my writing has been fiction. It was one thing to write the monologue but performing it became an emotional event. I still choked up a little when I got to the part where my mother passed away. The house was sold out and all the monologues were inspirational. Those who are afflicted with mental illnesses were particularly inspirational and their bravery in standing up and telling their stories was indescribable. It was one of those things that you just had to be there. Here is my monologue.

He was a Marine, through and through. Although as a child the movie Rambo with Sylvester Stallone had not yet been written it could have been the story of my uncle. He was a large man with a serious look and a stone chiseled face. Vietnam had made him into the man he was, yet unlike Rambo he was intelligent. Always reading a book, sometimes a dictionary or a bible. Many times even after his tour of duty ended he still read army manuals. Books about infiltrating enemy camps or out thinking the enemy on the battlefield. After Vietnam his intelligent side kicked in. He went to work for defense contractor McDonnell Douglas building bombs and missiles. Still contributing to the war effort. At the time he was the successful one in the family. The one with the nicest house and the pool in the backyard. He lived near Los Angeles with a wife, two young girls and what appeared to the rest of us as a perfect life.

I was about 14 or 15 when I first realized things had changed. I soon learned that after Vietnam my uncle came back with addictions. Addictions to marijuana and alcohol. While he was functional for many years eventually it caught up with him. He lost his job, and then his wife, the house with the pool came next. By the time my mother got involved he was deep into a mental illness that turned him from the most successful Solano to the homeless Solano. That's when he arrived at our house. For the most part he still looked like the big strong marine. He even still walked around with large books, reading intensely as he walked back and forth in the front yard. He often would lift large boulders and carry them back and forth across the yard as a way of keeping physically fit. It was only when you looked into his eyes that you first realized something was wrong. When you looked into his eyes it was as though the soul was no longer there. He was not the uncle I grew up with. He was someone else. In some ways it was only the shell of the man I once knew. Did anyone notice I have been referring to my
uncle in the past tense for the last few paragraphs? I only just now noticed it. He was a marine, he had a nice home, he was married, etc, etc. I guess it’s because all this was pre-mental illness. Its as though he died, only he didn't, he is still around today. Just not the man he once was.

My mother worked two and three jobs to raise her two boys and two girls. A single mother who was intent on keeping her family off welfare. I remember as a young boy going to the grocery store and paying with coupons, food stamps. No fancy debit cards like today, In those days you separated the food and non food items, pulled out your book of food stamps and payed with the different denominations. Everyone in line knew that you were paying with food stamps. My mother hated it; I could see it on her face every time we went to the store. Now we had another mouth to feed, my uncle, her brother. My mother tried to get help for my uncle. He had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD was a new thing in those days although it really existed for centuries. In World War I it was called shell shocked, Later Combat Fatigue, now PTSD. Different names, same ruined lives. He received medications which seemed to work, when he took them. He would go though bouts of getting better only to go though bouts of drinking and not his taking medications. The cycle ended with him going to jail. Jail, for those of you who don't have immediate family members with mental illness combined with drug and or alcohol addictions, is where we send our ill family members. That is where they stay until a bed opens up in a short term treatment facility.

The more my mother learned about his illness the more she wanted to help, not just my uncle but others as well, the future mentally ill who maybe could be saved before they lost it all. One of my mother’s jobs was with the State of New Mexico as a clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles. While working for the state she learned of a state funded program called Sangre De Cristo Mental Health. A small clinic which was trying to provide outpatient treatment for those with mental illness. She applied for and received a job there, first as a secretary and later she progressed to a case worker. All while armed with nothing more than a high school diploma. While making mental illness her job, she still kept working to help others outside of work. At one time she traveled to Washington DC to learn about a new group called the National Alliance on Mentally Illness. Her travel companions and her returned to Santa Fe and began forming the local chapter. Meanwhile my uncle was still in and out of jail. Most of the time he was arrested for Protective Custody or Public Drunkenness. With no other place to take those intoxicated or mentally ill, police could only take them to jail. My mother next began work on a sobering center. A place where the intoxicated could be taken to sober up, get treatment and get back on their medications. A very early edition of the Newspaper the Santa Fe reporter chronicled her attempts to make the sobering center a reality. I was now 21 years old, just married and beginning a family of my own. I had moved into my own small, actually really, really, small mobile home with my new wife.

I remember the phone ringing in the middle of the night. You know one of those wake you up in the middle of the night calls that can never be good news. I reached over for the phone and it was one of my uncles. One who hardly ever called me. My mother was dead. She had taken a van load of staff from Sangre De Cristo Mental Health to a seminar in Taos. She dropped them off and then headed back down the canyon. The theory is that she swerved to avoid a boulder in the road, lost control
and went off the cliff above the Rio Grande. My life was never the same. My uncles only got worse. While family member after family member tried to care for my uncle no one could get the cooperation from him my mother could. His daughter moved to Santa Fe just to care for him. This ended in frustration and despair. Today you can still see my uncle, you can catch him at the St. Johns food Kitchen for lunch. You can also find him walking Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. He refuses to live with
anyone and seems to be complacent living on the streets. He hardly recognizes me or anyone else.

Sangre De Cristo Mental Health closed down a few years after my mother died. Other Mental Health Centers have also come and gone. Those with mental illness still go to jail awaiting a bed in a mental health inpatient facility. Twenty three years after my mother began efforts to open a sobering center, the center came to fruition. The joint City, county sobering center opened last year. I am a conglomeration of my experiences growing up. The struggle my mother went through with my uncle and his mental illness taught me a lot about love and devotion. My uncle’s illness became my mother’s life. Her career developed out of her efforts to support him. In a way her death came in the same manner. While I can’t say that I began a career in law enforcement because of these experiences, they have definitely shaped my policies and issues. I can never forget seeing my uncle go from the most successful in the family to the homeless one in the family. I will always remember the love, devotion and sacrifice my mother endured for her brother. As I write this I struggled for a way to end this monologue and then I realized my family still struggles with my uncle’s illness and we pray for his safety while grasping for answers. There is yet no end to this story.

If it weren't for lawyers, we wouldn't need them.....

The voters in the City of Santa Fe are getting ready to vote on an amendment to the City Charter which would require those who want to run for Municipal Judge to hold a law degree. The local newspapers have advocated for this in editorial after editorial each election year where the municipal judge is on the ballot since the days of Judge Tom Fiorina.
In my teenage years I remember getting a ticket, Ok, maybe more than one, and appearing before Municipal Judge Rumaldo E. “Cuate” Chavez. I had to research his real name since no one knew him as anything more than Judge Cuate Chavez. I remember sitting in his office with my mother and handling the whole thing pretty informally. No passing through a metal detector, standing in one line to check in, then waiting in a packed courtroom for the judge to appear and taking in case by case and everyone wondering if the judge is going to be as tough or lenient as she is to the case she is hearing now. It was the true peoples court. Judge Cuate scolded me and then went easy on fines, He knew my mother, a single mother of four children, working two jobs to get by, would be footing the bill. He also knew that my mother would be much more harsh on me than anything he could meat out.

This was true peoples court. No big formality's, no "please rise" as the judge entered the court room and you got true one on one time with the judge to plead your case. Quite a stark contrast to the Red Light Camera era upon us now. Granted it is a court of law and the city has grown tremendously since these days in the early 80's. But has the true premise of a "peoples court outgrown Santa Fe? Have we progressed so far that we must give up the idea of a peoples court and decide that what we need for petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors is beyond the common sense judge and what we need is someone who has gone to law school?

If voters want a lawyer couldn't they just elect one during election times? Currently while you do need a law degree to run there is nothing to preclude any and all lawyers to run. It would be interesting to see a good non-lawyer candidate face a lawyer candidate and see really how the voters would decide. I was interested in seeing such a race this time around however no one challenged the incumbent lawyer candidate.

I feel that more important than a law degree is a person of good common sense. Someone who decide cases within the law but having true compassion and understanding that this is a court which commonly handles not real criminals, but real people dealing with daily problems and who may have made a mistake, or maybe they are innocent. Ayn Rand a Russian born American Writer once said “The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” Sometimes I believe this to be true. It is usually in the misdemeanor category that this is most true.

Things like the Cell Phone ordinance in the city are perfect examples. The Police have many options to give citations to those who drive badly or are inattentive to their driving due to cell phone use. The actual hands free cell phone ordinance in my opinion is not needed and only causes some people who are actually good careful drivers to break the law. I know of no one who has not broken this law even just long enough to tell someone they will call back or to tell them to hold on while they pull over. These kinds of laws I believe are just the things that require a common sense judge and not a law degree to make a decision on. In my profession I have appeared before many a Judge, many of them with or with out law degree's. I have seen good and bad on both sides. On felony cases and in courts of record I fully believe we need judges who are lawyers. In misdemeanor and courts which are not courts of record ie- Municipal and Magistrate I believe we can still have citizen judges who may or may not have law degrees.

I urge the public to vote no' on Amendment Seven, which would require candidates for Municipal Judge to hold law degrees. Those lawyers who want to run will not be precluded and we will not preclude good candidates who do not hold degrees from running.

"I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five." Steven Wright, Comedian

Is it really Pork?

As we watch the poker game at the roundhouse I can't help but think that the legislature with the help of Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish have called the Governors raise and now the Governor has to decide is he all in or does he check on the river? Or is it really the legislature that is drawing dead and the Governor holds the Ace in the hole in this battle?


All poker metaphor's aside it was very interesting to watch the battle over capital outlay money. Whenever one of these battles happen the media or the opponents takes to calling these projects "pork" or "pork barrel money" this has a bad connotation. However, the truth is that this is the very reason we have legislators who come from each district and county in the state. Each district elects their legislator and sends them to Santa Fe to represent not only the state as a whole but the district as well. It is their job to ensure that they return with their districts fair share of government projects. This is how jails, police stations, courts, library's, parks, colleges, schools, streets, bridges, sewer plants, water treatment plants, etc, etc, etc, get built. If your legislator was ineffective in getting these things for your county, city or district they would not last long.

The same newspaper reporter who writes about "pork" is the same one who will just as quickly write a story about an ineffective legislator who can't get anything done. Yes sometimes legislators fund some bad things. Money for parties, roads that are on private lands, and other embarrassing funding bills. On the other hand most of these capital outlay projects are needing in the communities where they are funded. Providing these basic services and infrastructure is exactly why we have a government in the first place. Otherwise the colonists would have kicked England out and just stayed without any organized government at all. No country has been able to flourish without some sort of government and never will.

So back to Governor Richardson and the New Mexico Legislature. I have some advice for the Governor, Sometimes you lay down the winning hand.

Would you stand in line to vote for no one?

I was checking the results of New Mexico's Democratic Party caucus this afternoon. I was still trying to see if we had a winner although I pretty much knew we would not have a declared winner yet. I have been looking at the results since yesterday evening and it only dawned on me today. 405 people in the state of New Mexico took the time to vote "uncommitted". Now I don't know how many were absentee ballots however I can't help but wonder. Who would take the time to drive to their polling site, stand in line for anywhere from minutes to hours, and then vote for no one? Even if the vote is absentee, who would request an absentee ballot, have it mailed to them, fill it out and check the uncommitted box and then affix a stamp and mail it back?

Don't get me wrong I want everyone to take the time to vote and take part in the democratic process. So maybe if you just can't make up your mind but want to still take part you show up and vote "I don't know". It was very interesting and the hamsters in my head are running at full speed as I ponder the thought.

What if Uncommitted won even one congressional district. Would those delegates to the National Convention get to vote for who ever they want? Or would they have to go and vote "I don't know". Also does uncommitted equate to "none of the above". What if the ballot only had the names of those who remained in the race and no opportunity to vote uncommitted? 4, 500 voters would have had to choose between Hillary or Barak or enter a write in candidate. How much would this have changed this election in which the win hinges on less than 200 votes. Hmmm.

Below is the latest results as of 2-6-08 at 6:04 pm which I got from KOAT's web site. The Democratic party did not have grand totals only county by county, It includes the latest uncommitted votes.

2008 New Mexico Democratic Caucus Candidate Votes Percent Hillary Clinton 66,173 49% Barack Obama 65,963 48% Bill Richardson 1,181 1% John Edwards 2,025 1% Joe Biden 112 0% Chris Dodd 68 0% Dennis Kucinich 499 0% Uncommitted 405 0% Precincts Reporting - 181 out of 184 - 98%

Should New Mexico Return to a Democratic Primary?

My wife Antoinette and I arrived at our polling place, Sweeney Elementary School at about 5:20 pm on Super Tuesday to cast our vote in the Democratic Caucus. As we walked into the door one of the poll workers walked up to me and said "we may need your help, we ran out of ballots and people are getting angry" I began to survey the crowd and see just what I was walking into when a young woman walked in with more ballots. Apparently there was about a 20- 30 minute wait while more ballots were obtained. The lines were long but seemed to begin moving quickly once the ballots arrived. My wife and I got into line and then my son called to say that his truck broke down and he was along side the road. My wife and I left the line and went to go help him.

The three of us returned to the school at about 6:40 about 20 minutes before the 7 pm deadline to vote. Lines were still long but moving relatively quickly. My wife and I had no trouble voting on the old fashion paper ballot. My son was missing from the voter lists and he was forced to file a provisional ballot. We all left about 7:20 and there was still a small line of voters waiting to cast their ballot.

I could not help but wonder what it would be like for all the 22 Santa Fe polling places and the 184 polling places across New Mexico to count and recount these paper ballots. I also could not help but think about all the brand new ballot machines in storage in cities and counties all across this state. They are sitting idle because in 2003 New Mexico decided to have a democratic party run caucus rather than a State run June Primary as was the case in previous years.

After a push by Governor Richardson a state law was passed in 2003 allowing parties to opt out of the primary election and hold their own presidential "caucuses," giving the party control over the date separate from the primary set by law. Governor Richardson and the Democratic party wanted the early February caucus and the Democratic State Central Committee went along with the idea. In the 2004 Presidential Elections New Mexico benefited from a lot of attention brought to our state by the candidates. Now there are 22 states, many larger with many more delegates who now have their elections on super Tuesday along with New Mexico. We no longer stand out and now are just one of the many.

Meanwhile we have given up the opportunity for a professionally run election with modern voting machines which can give near instant vote totals immediately after the polls close. I fully support the democratic party however I do believe elections should be run by county clerks and the Secretary of State. In todays day and age to not walk into a polling place and easily and quickly vote in a modern machine and not have to wait days for meaning full results is not too much to ask for.

It is now 12:44 am and I am watching the sporadic results being posted in between Conan O'Briens interviews and a late night performance by Sheryl Crow. There are 19 counties out of 22 reporting and Obama is ahead by 218 votes. The counting will continue in the counties which have not yet reported however there are almost 17,000 provisional ballots which will not even begin to be counted until later in the day on Wednesday. The election is so close that those ballots will really matter. This election will not be over and final until late Wednesday or Thursday.

Many polling places across the state ran out of ballots just like mine did. In Rio Rancho there was one polling place for what is one of the largest cities in the state. Voters waited up to 3 hours to vote and police had to be called to assist with disgruntled voters. Voters across the state faced long lines and long waits to vote in consolidated precincts. If the County Clerks or the Secretary of State ran elections that turned out like this they would face a hard re-election. I don't blame the democratic party they are not equipped or financed to handle statewide elections. The good thing is that more and more people are voting. We had record numbers in 2004 and It looks like 2008 will break those records. We can not afford to lose the momentum of excited voters getting to the polls. Many disappointed voters headed home and gave up on casting ballots. Will they return in November? Or will they give up on casting their votes? Not to mention that workers were not given time to go vote since this election was not a state run election. How many more would have voted had they had the hour off to go vote? How many voters thought voting was from 7am to 7 pm as it normally is rather than the noon to 7 pm as the Democratically run caucus was? How many showed up at 7 or 8 am and then never returned?

The Democratic Party needs to seriously take a look at the pro's and cons of the February caucus vs the June Primary. I feel the time has come to go back to a state run primary.

Busy days in New Mexico National Politics

The last few days have been very busy as National Politics settles into Santa Fe County. We have had several days of planning for visits by President Bill Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and a possible weekend visit by Senator Hillary Clinton. In the 2004 election cycle we had visits by all the candidates and while the security concerns were high it does seem as though the candidates this year are receiving security usually seen by actual presidents.

With the short notice and quick planning for all these visits we have had to be on our toes and deal with ever changing plans. President Bill Clinton arrived yesterday and after attending fundraisers in Santa Fe he arrived at 2 am into his hotel room at the Eldorado Hotel. By 8 am he was having breakfast and preparing to leave. Thats when I met with him and what I thought would be a quick meet and photo op turned into a short conversation over COPS funding as well as law enforcement funding as a whole. I brought along a couple of 8x10's from the last time I met him and had a photo op and asked him to sign them for me. He graciously signed them both and as he did I complimented him on the fact that during his administration we enjoyed the best funding for law enforcement that we in law enforcement have ever seen from the federal government. I told him about how much we have been hurting under the Bush administration.

He told me that Hillary would work to balance the federal budget and put the country in a position to restore COPS program funding. He said she fought the cuts that have been put in place over the last few years and would continue to do so. I really appreciated that and I will be meeting with Senator Obama tomorrow and intend to let him know as well how much we need to restore law enforcement funding.

President Clinton and myself, ( I'm the short one) LOL

The last time I met with President Clinton it was on the tarmac at the Santa Fe Airport. There was no time for more than a quick hello and a photo. This time I was happy that we actually had a short conversation. For those who read my last blog post you know I endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton for the New Mexico Caucus. I will however fully support Senator Obama should he win the Democratic Nomination. I do feel this is the Democrats year and we have the best candidates and we are on our way to the White House. Regardless of who you support make sure you vote on Tuesday in the Democratic Caucus. If you are one of the few Republicans in Santa Fe County your primary is in June. I urge Republicans to vote in their primary and then in November I urge you to vote for the Democratic nominee and help get this country back on track.

It's the Economy Stupid !

First off I apologize for my lack of blogging since the holidays. I took a break and then just didn't get back to it afterwards.

The title of this post is not only a cliche saying from Bill Clinton's first presidential election where he took out George Bush senior, I believe it is one of the two primary issues in this years presidential election. "It's the economy, stupid" was a sign hung in Bill Clinton's campaign headquarters to keep everybody "on message" in 1992. James Carville put it there. Along with then President Bush's "read my lips" quote it became the mantra of the election.

With Governor Bill Richardson out of the race I began thinking about what I would do in the presidential election. My first thought was John Edwards, I have to admit some bias in that I have met him and he greatly impressed me. However, In reality I think this is between Obama and Clinton. Keeping that thought in mind I started thinking about what I feel is important and where these two candidates stand. The two main issues I think about are the war and the economy. I am sure either candidate will begin to extricate us from Iraq immediately upon taking office. So the economy is next. Who has the experience and ability to put America back on track? I can't help thinking about where President Bill Clinton "whom I have also met and I have no doubt he is one of the great political minds alive today", left the economy upon his leaving office.

During his administration he took over at a time when another Bush had decimated the federal budget and left us with huge deficits and an economy that was on the skids. When President Clinton took over, his administration eliminated the deficit and put the economy on the right track. Skip ahead six years and another Bush has put us right back where we started, actually its worse. Ok, so it is Hillary and not Bill running this time. I understand that. I also know that she by being a part of her husbands administration knows what it took to fix the economy. I know they will hit the ground running and not have any learning curve. This is an important fact I could not overlook.

I would whole heartedly support Obama should he win the primary and go forward to the general election. However, in the primary I have to support and will vote for Hillary Clinton. I urge readers to look at the candidates seriously and join me in support of Hillary. Most important is to be sure and go vote in New Mexico's Caucus on February 5, 2008. I know everyone says that whichever election we happen to be in is the most important election of our time. So I won't repeat that cliche although I thought about it. This is however the most important political decision you will make in the next four years. Make it wisely and take a stand by voting. Some may say that I should not endorse because I am in a campaign myself. I hope you don't want to elect someone who cannot take a stand and explain it to the public. If not then there are plenty of others who will stand on the fence.

Don Wiviott Filing lawsuit to throwout HB 1156

I received this in an email from 3rd Congressional District Candidate Don Wiviott just a few minutes ago.

Dear Greg,

The right to fair and open elections is being threatened in New Mexico, and we must respond.

House Bill 1156, which went into effect last year, drastically changes how candidates qualify to appear on the primary election ballot. It takes the power of choice away from voters and limits ballot access to a select few, and if we do not act quickly, our very ability to put a progressive voice on the ballot this November may be in jeopardy. Replacing a free, open system in which candidates must collect signatures in order to appear on the ballot, HB 1156 restricts access to only those candidates who receive at least 20% of support at a pre-primary convention. Instead of giving primary voters the opportunity to hear and select from the full chorus of voices in the Democratic party, it limits access to the ballot to a well-connected few.

And the consequences for progressives in New Mexico could be disastrous. Under this law, if no Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District reaches the 20% threshold at the convention, the Democrats can have no nominee, and we will be forced to surrender Tom Udall's seat to the Republicans in November.

We cannot allow this to happen. Elections ought to be a contest of ideas, and open and fair to everyone. To that end, I announced today that I am filing a lawsuit in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, challenging HB 1156 and the restrictions it places on voter choice. In addition, I am urging all other Democratic candidates for the 3rd Congressional District to join with me in opposing HB 1156.

PLEASE, HELP BY SIGNING MY PETITION URGING OTHER DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES TO JOIN MY FIGHT AGAINST HB 1156

I'm not a career politician and I got in this race to fight to end the war in Iraq, to be a champion for the middle class, and to promote fairness in our political system. Minorities -- especially Native Americans -- will find it tougher to get on the ballot throughout New Mexico under this new system. That's unacceptable. New Mexico is about fostering diversity, and HB 1156 does not reflect our values. If there is one thing all the Democratic candidates can agree on, it is that the Democratic primary ought to be open and fair.

PLEASE, HELP BY SIGNING MY PETITION URGING OTHER DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES TO JOIN MY FIGHT AGAINST HB 1156

Together, we can unite the Democratic field in opposition to HB 1156 and repel this attack on our right to open and fair elections.

Sincerely,
Don Wiviott

Don has a petition on his website asking supporters to protest HB 1156. While Don uses the chance that no one would recieve 20% of the delegates and the possibility of no democratic candidate as a reason to do away with HB 1156, the truth is that in the current election it is more likely that from a slate of 5 or 6 candidates only one candidate may get 50-60 percent of the delegates. This would leave the other 4 or 5 candidates scrapping to get 20% and the likely hood would be that no one else would get 20%. This would mean the election would be over in March before a single vote has been cast.

This has always been my point of contention with HB 1156. I truly belive that in a democracy that the voters should decide elections, all the voters. The election should not be decided by 712 or so delegates to a pre primary convention. I belive that when the legislature voted for HB 1156 that they truly belived that this would strengthen the party by requiring candidates to take part in thier party meetings, get to know delegates and contribute to the party. Many times you never see candidates at local party meetings unless they are involved in an election at the time. Otherwise many are not active participants in party politics and day to day running of the party. The legislature probably belived this would stimulate participation in the respective partys.

Unfortunately this bill was probably quickly concieved, and voted upon without any thoughts as to the negative ramifications. Northern New Mexico is now facing those ramifications head on as the worst case scenarios for this bill seem to be overflowing like the New Orleans levys when the city flooded. While I am not announcing support or non-support for Don Wiviott's candidacy I am in support of his efforts to end HB 1156. This bill is bad for democracy and should be thrown out by the courts or repealed in this months upcoming legislative session.

Happy New Year!

After a real hectic November and early December I completely took a holiday break from politics, blogging and almost anything that was not family and home related. I hope everyones Christmas was as happy as mine. It was an easy going mostly stay at home couple of weeks. Now as 2007 comes to a close I hope you all had a great year and I wish everyone the best for 2008.

I am not one to make resolutions, I just never have done so. If you make resolutions I hope you are able to keep them. I intend to get back to blogging now so I hope for you thats a good thing. There was an interesting comment left on the Dr. Sex Graffiti post today and besides the interesting but flawed point of view, the comment comes as we near the two year anniversary of the trial coming to an end. I will write my rebuttal to the comment on my Jan 2 blog post. One final note, January 7, will mark the two year anniversary of this blog. Hard to believe I have been doing this two years. In those two years this blog has gone from one visitor to 34,260!
Wow, Happy New Year!

Decision made on Congressional Race.

I have made a decision in the Northern Congressional Race. I sent out this News Release today.

NEWS RELEASE- 12-10-07

Sheriff Greg Solano announces today that he will not run as a candidate for the northern congressional seat being vacated by Representative Tom Udall. Sheriff Solano will continue with his run for Lieutenant Governor in the 2010 Primary Election. Sheriff Solano states “ My family, supporters and I have weighed the issues and the races of Lieutenant Governor and the House seat and have decided the place where I can best serve the citizens of New Mexico is in the Lieutenant Governors race. “

Sheriff Solano went on to say “I feel confident the Democratic Party will prevail in the Northern Congressional Seat and I look forward to supporting the Democratic candidate in the general election”. “Now is the time for New Mexicans to make real changes in Washington by electing Democrats for President and into all of the Congressional Races. We must turn away from those who have supported President Bush’s failed policies and wars”. Sheriff Solano wants to thank all those who emailed and called him expressing support for a congressional run. “It was very humbling to be asked by citizens and my peers to consider the run and I am very thankful for the support”.