Morning Word: Report Says Sandia Labs Misused Taxpayer Funds

• A report from the Department of Energy Office of the Inspector General
• finds that Sandia National Labs misused taxpayer funds to lobby for the extension of Lockheed Martin to run the labs
• . A consultant involved is former US Rep. Heather Wilson.
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• Albuquerque Business First
• looks at five things that Sandia Labs will have to do
• according to the report.
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• Heather Wilson
• denied the claims
• .

• "I was not a lobbyist for Sandia and I did not contact any federal official – Congressional or Executive – for Sandia to try to extend the Sandia contract. The DOE has never contacted me on this matter. The findings in this report don't specifically mention me and I wasn't included in the meetings the report refers to. If the authors intended to imply I was influencing Congress for Sandia, their report is wrong," Wilson said in a statement to Business First.

• Albuquerque Business First
• noted that she was mentioned on the first page of the report.
• Someone else who may throw their hat into the ring for House Minority Leader? Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup. Steve Terrell wrote about
• comments she made ahead of a committee hearing on Wednesday
• .

• "I'm looking at it," said Lundstrom, who was in Santa Fe for a meeting of the Jobs Council. Referring to the contest for the Democrats' floor leader, she said, "It's not a done deal."

• I spoke to two representatives who said they would be running, Reps. Brian Egolf and Eliseo Alcon, and each said they had been on the phone with lots of people. I expect Lundstrom will also be on the phone with media and fellow representatives.
• The Navajo Nation Council
• will meet in a special session to consider a veto override of legislation that would have removed a law requiring elected officials to speak Navajo
• . There are other pieces of legislation as well:

• The special session, which starts today and concludes Friday in Window Rock, Ariz., was called to address legislation that was not considered during the fall session.
  
  Delegate Russell Begaye is sponsoring two bills that would set lifetime term limits for the presidency at two terms, or eight years, and for delegates at four terms, or 16 years.

• The
• House clerk is leaving his position
• , the
• Santa Fe New Mexican
• reports. Stephen Arias, a fixture for over three decades, is going after the new Speaker of the House said they had someone else in mind.

• But two years later, Sanchez was ousted as speaker by a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans. Arias, however, remained as clerk under new Speaker Gene Samberson. When Sanchez returned as speaker in 1987, Arias again remained as clerk. And after Sanchez was defeated for re-election in 2000, Arias continued serving under subsequent speakers Ben Luján of Nambé and Kenny Martinez of Grants.

• The US Department of Justice
• filed a complaint against Albuquerque
• . This is as part of the agreement between the DOJ and the city following a DOJ investigation.
• Ruidoso Downs councilman Tommy Hood died on Tuesday
• . He was 66.
• The Santa Fe Reporter
• looks at the New Mexico Environmental Department's new reputation for relaxing environmental rules
• .

• As general counsel, Flynn approved NMED’s plans to repeal its own regulation tightening emission standards for motor vehicles, and the department has pulled down from its website links to Richardson-era NMED reports and recommendations on climate change. It even ended the Climate Masters Program, a class about climate change that covered topics like watersheds and permaculture.
  
  SFR learned through public documents that as early as September 2011, staff were instructed to decline media opportunities to promote the class, and in October 2011, course instructor Rita Bates, planning section chief in NMED’s Air Quality Bureau, met about Climate Masters to “re-brand it in accordance with this administration’s priorities and policies.”

• DWI is always a hot button issue in New Mexico, and for good reason. DWI arrests and convictions are going down. Is this
• a good thing or a bad thing
• ?

• “Maybe it’s judges, maybe it’s technicalities, I don’t know what’s driving those numbers,” said state Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, after a Legislative Finance Committee meeting questioned how effectively the state is allocating funding for the $17 million DWI program in local communities.

• Another legal loss for former Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella. His lawyers
• as his lawyer's attempt to get U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez disqualified from the case was dismissed
• . Rodella was found guilty of federal civil rights and firearms charges. Today, a judge will hear Rodella's motion for a new trial.
• The
• Albuquerque Journal
• is the latest to
• write about the Republicans likely push for right-to-work legislation in this year's legislative session
• .

• Recent right-to-work bills have suffered a quick demise in the Democratic-controlled Legislature. On two distant occasions when a right-to-work bill was approved by lawmakers, the legislation was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Bruce King – in 1979 and again in 1981. King, who served three terms, was strongly supported by organized labor.

• A
• hearing on a lawsuit
• over the Interstate Stream Commission's alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act was delayed.

• Gaume’s attorney, Brian Egolf, tells SFR that a new hearing date hasn’t yet been set. He’s also not at liberty to say why the judge vacated today’s hearing, adding that the “matter we were discussing at the hearing is under seal and I can’t talk about it.” On Oct. 30, the judge ordered the state to produce a long list of documents and to allow limited depositions. It was not immediately clear whether that information has been delivered to the court.

• An attorney in Logan
• wants the judicial nominating commission to reject they application of the judge who voters opted not to retain last week
• . That judge — Albert Mitchell — also sits on the nominating commission. The attorney — Warren Frost — also wants Mitchell off the nominating commission as well. Susana Martinez has reappointed three judges who lost their retention elections.
• Environmental groups
• filed a lawsuit alleging the federal government does not have a complete plan for the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf
• . The issue of the recovery of the wolf is always a controversial one, with environmental groups on one side and ranchers and farmers on the other.
• The city of Farmington
• increased the rates for water and waste water to pay for upgrading the aging infrastructure
• .

• Farmington isn’t alone. In the last few years Las Vegas, Aztec, Roswell and Belen have increased water rates to pay for improvements to deteriorating systems.

• The city of Albuquerque did as well.
• Kathy Korte
• doesn't intend to go anywhere
• . She isn't backing down from statements that made headlines and says that she will run for reelection for Albuquerque's school board. Korte has been one of the most outspoken opponents of increased school testing.
• The San Miguel County Commission
• approved a strict oil and gas drilling ordinance
• .

• The new ordinance supersedes a moratorium on oil and gas development that had been in place since 2010. Now, exploration and drilling will be restricted to a sparsely populated stretch on the eastern side of San Miguel County, some 60 miles away from the county seat of Las Vegas.
  
  Drilling companies will have to pay steep application fees, foot the bill for pre-drilling assessments and post bonds, among numerous other things.

• The city of Santa Fe
• received an 80 out of 100 score on an LGBT equality report
• . The city thinks it can do better, according to the
• Santa Fe New Mexican
• :

• Where Santa Fe fell down in the survey was in its municipal services and law enforcement. It lost four points for lacking a municipal human rights commission and five points for lacking an LGBT liaison to the “city executive.” But it picked up some bonus points in this category for services to LGBT youth, homeless and elderly.

• The State Land Office
• reported bringing in $79.2 million in October. The money comes from energy production and grazing on state land. Most of the money goes to public schools.
• Winthrop Quigley
• writes about some of hte "ironic" opposition to the Affordable Care Act
• .
• An Albuquerque homeless shelter
• will open two days earlier than scheduled
• . The homeless population probably would have enjoyed it to open last night, the first sub-freezing night of the winter.

Santa Fe Reporter